Battle of the Heroes
by Chris Ganale
Summary: After escaping from the Leviathan, Revan is forced to struggle against the anger and hate spawned by losing Bastila to Malak. Can their love save him? Or is he doomed to fall once more to the dark side of the Force? Series of oneshots near KOTOR end. LSM
1. Interlude I: The Escape

The silence pervading the ship as he descended from the gun turrets was deafening. Even the transit humming of the ship's engines was subdued as the little freighter continued to increase the distance between itself and the Sith warship it was rapidly leaving behind.

His boots impacted against the deck with a heavy thud, and he turned to find Jolee Bindo standing right in front of him. "Where is Bastila? What happened on that ship?"

"We ran into Malak," Carth Onasi replied wearily, approaching from the corridor leading to the cockpit. "He would have killed us, but Bastila sacrificed herself so we could get away."

"You mean she's…she's dead?" the young Twi'lek girl, Mission Vao, asked, shock evident in her voice.

Something hard and heavy hit… Funny. At just that moment, he was stricken with an identity crisis. He had no idea who he was. Was he Revan, former Dark Lord of the Sith and propagator of the current galactic war? Or was he a simple soldier for the Republic; a soldier who had turned out to have an overwhelming gift of the Force. A soldier who had managed to secure the heart of the Jedi they were discussing.

No matter. It made no difference who he was. Whether he was Revan or whether he was Kagi, the pain was there regardless. Lifting up a hand and holding it over his chest, the Jedi stumbled over to the row of seats around the holoprojector and collapsed into them, leaning heavily back against them. For once, the smothering scent of the Wookie Zaalbar hovering over the row of seats did not bother him in the slightest.

"Bah, Malak won't kill her, don't be foolish," Jolee replied, waving off-hand to the young girl. "He'll want to use her battle meditation against the Republic. Turn her to the dark side and the Sith will always be victorious."

Yes, that was what Malak would do. Deep in his bones, the young Jedi knew the truth. Once upon a time, he had been Revan. And Malak hated him, and even now still hated him. Turning Bastila to the dark side would accomplish two goals. It would provide him with an unstoppable power to be used against the Republic, and it would strike a personal blow at his former master.

Agony twisted inside his guts, forcing him to bend forward as far as he could and place his head in-between his knees. Not once in either of his lives had he ever gotten spacesick; some odd, still-functioning part of his brain reasoned this must be what it felt like.

Mission turned her attention from the aged Jedi, taking two steps closer to the hunched figure and leaning over, resting a hand gently on his shoulder. "Kagi? Are you okay?"

"We have to go back," he muttered, so quiet that he could barely hear himself. He willed his heart and stomach to behave, succeeding only partially, and lifted his head. "We have to go back for Bastila!"

For a few moments, no one said anything. The varied expressions seemed to all be in agreement. Then Carth sighed, remembered something, and his face hardened. "Not so fast," he said, an edge forming in his voice. "We've got a bigger issue to deal with, here." He fixed his gaze on the distraught Jedi. "They deserve to know the truth about you. Do you want to tell them what Malak said, or should I?"

The young man seated across the bay attempted to give Carth a withering glare, but the pain in his torso bled all the malice from it. "By the Force, Carth, you think _this_ is a bigger issue than Bastila in the hands of Malak?"

The soldier did not give the other man any ground. He crossed his arms in determination and glared hard at him. "Yes, it is."

Closing his eyes, the Jedi lifted both hands to his face and wearily rubbed his forehead. "Carth, when this is over, you and I are going to have words. And you will not enjoy it."

"Are you going to tell them?" Carth repeated, his tone as solid as durasteel.

"Yes, by the Force, I'll tell them." The young Jedi paused then, looking from one comrade to the next, judging their expressions. Most of what he saw was confusion, but it was suspicion, not surprise, that he saw in Jolee's eyes. He sighed. "I am Darth Revan."

It was as though he had set off a neutron bomb. Shock exploded on the faces of Mission, Juhani, Zaalbar, and Canderous. "Revan?" Mission cried. "Wha-what are you talking about? Is this some kind of joke?"

"It's no joke," Carth replied, shaking his head slowly. "The Jedi Council captured Revan and erased the Dark Lord's mind, programming in a new identity. Saul Karath told me on the _Leviathan_ and Bastila confirmed it."

The former dark Jedi scowled, depositing his face in his palms once more. He was not in the greatest of moods at Carth right now, and the pilot was not helping his situation by reminding him of the fact that Bastila was in the hands of his mortal enemy.

_Bastila, be strong,_ he pleaded across their bond, hoping that she could hear his words. _I will save you, Bastila, I swear it on the Force!_

"You're Darth Revan?" Mission said to him, drawing him out of his thoughts. The sudden discomfort of the Twi'lek girl was obvious. "This is…this is big. Do you…remember anything about being the dark lord?"

"I don't remember anything about being Revan," he answered icily, trying to keep his emotions in check. Every _second_ they wasted debating this pointless topic took Bastila further and further away from him, and gave Malak more and more time to do Force knows what to her.

"And so the lies begin," Carth said.

The Jedi's only reaction was to turn his head slowly, painfully slowly, in the direction of the Republic soldier, his anger with the man increasing at every second. It was now taking every ounce of his control to keep himself from removing Carth's ability to speak with his lightsaber, but doing something like that would not help him get Bastila back.

_Bastila._

Suddenly, something broke inside him, and all the dark feelings of rage and anger at Carth were blown away like smoke on the breeze, replaced with the very real knowledge that Bastila was in immediate danger, in immediate need of his assistance.

_You were right, Bastila. Admitting our feelings _is_ putting us in danger of the dark side. I must be cautious. It would not do to save you, only for you to return to an evil man._

"It was obvious you remembered something back there when Malak confronted you with the truth," Carth said, oblivious to the other man's internal musings. "It might have only been small pieces, but there _was_ something there."

"Just a few flashes?" Mission asked anxiously. Even she could tell that their Jedi companion was struggling within himself, and that Carth was only provoking him. "That's it? Nothing more? Then I don't think there's a problem!" She projected cheer and confidence into her voice, desperately trying to resolve this situation without violence. "It seems to me that if you don't really remember anything about being Revan, then it doesn't really matter anymore. You are who you are now, right?"

He gave her a thin smile to let her know that her efforts to defuse this problem were appreciated.

"Of course it still matters!" Carth persisted. "How do we know more memories won't come flooding back? How do we know Revan won't suddenly turn on us?" He sighed exasperatedly, knowing full well that he didn't have the support of one single entity on that ship right then. "The whole time we've been chasing Malak, we'd had his old Sith master right at our side, listening to our secrets, hearing our plans!"

"Hey, soldier-boy," Canderous Ordo, Mandalorian hero, said, stepping forward. "I've got an idea for you. It's pretty obvious to me that you're the _only_ person on this ship that's got a problem with him being Revan. Now I may not have the benefit of the Force, but even _I_ can tell that he's rightly pissed off because his girlfriend's been kidnapped, and just waiting for an ample excuse to fly off the handle and hurt something."

The Mandalorian snorted, sliding past Mission to drop an armored hand on the Jedi's shoulder. "Now, I've got to say that this guy's got a lot of patience for you, Carth. If it were me, I'd have already shot you a long time ago. So do us a favor, and don't try his patience."

Carth opened his mouth with a fiery response to the Mandalorian, but stopped when he saw the Jedi staring at him intensely. It wasn't quite the intensity of a man stalking his victim, but it was almost such. It unnerved Carth greatly.

"This changes nothing, Carth," he said, and when he spoke, the _Hawk_ fell silent as a tomb. "I was already committed to stopping Malak. But now that he has Bastila, _nothing_ will stand in my way of getting her back. Not you, not the Republic, not the Sith, and not your self-absorbed petty hatred of me on the _sole_ basis of the fact that I _used_ to be Revan, Dark Lord of the Sith."

Mission stepped forward as well, standing on the other side of the Jedi from Canderous. She stared intently at Carth. "Malak's the one who destroyed Taris, Carth. I don't see the Sith Lord standing here. I see a friend who's been with us through thick and thin. And after all that _he's_ done for _us_, I think we at least owe him the benefit of the doubt when it comes to whether or not he's truly changed."

The young girl glanced down at the Jedi sitting behind her, smiling lightly at him. "Besides, if Bastila could fall in love with him, then there's no way he could be the same Revan who turned on the Republic."

The Jedi turned an expression on the girl that managed to be confused and suspicious at the same time. "Just how did you know about us?"

"Later," Mission whispered. "Once we get you cleared from the Carth Tribunal, here."

Smirking, he nodded.

Behind them, Zaalbar crossed his big Wookie arms over his massive chest. "I agree with Mission," he said in his native Shryiiwook, knowing that everyone on the ship understood it by now. He looked down at the Jedi seated in front of him. "I swore a life-debt to the person you are, not to the person you were."

"Big Z and I will stick by you," Mission said with a nod, patting him on the shoulder. "We owe you our lives; we won't desert you now."

"How can you say that, Mission?" Carth exclaimed, face flushed with frustration. "The Sith bombed my home world! Revan took away my family and destroyed my life!"

Canderous scoffed, planting his war-creased hands on his hips. "Everyone knows it was Malak who gave the order to attack your people, Carth. You can't blame Revan for that, so stop making up lies to try and swing our opinions over to your favor."

There was silence for several minutes as Carth turned away. When at last he looked back toward the quartet, his face was considerably calmer, more collected. "I suppose you've proven yourself to be a friend of the Republic by your actions so far…Revan. But can I trust you? Can any of us?"

"Bastila trusted him enough to love him, Carth, knowing full well who he was," Canderous pointed out, truthfully. "Why can't you _see_ that?" The Mandalorian smiled cruelly. "Then again, you _are_ a product of the Republic, and they're not known for making the most insightful people in the galaxy."

The Jedi formerly known as Revan gently tapped the knuckles of his right hand against Canderous' torso armor, signaling for him to cool it. He then turned that same hand forward, toward Carth, to forestall any fighting. Things were finally getting back to peaceable measures, and he would not have it degenerate into petty insults.

Standing up, the former dark lord turned to look into the eyes of every man, woman, Wookie, and droid in the cargo bay. Then he turned to Canderous, stared into his eyes, searched his soul with the Force. "What about you, Canderous?" he asked calmly.

"You defeated the Mandalorian clans in the war, Revan," the armored man answered with pride. "You were the only one in the galaxy who could best us. We had never met one like you before, and never since. How could you even ask if I will follow you? Whatever you are fighting, it will be worthy of my skill."

Stepping forward, the Mandalorian held out his armored right hand, waiting for the Jedi to meet it in a strong, firm grip. "I'm your man until the end Revan, no matter how this plays out."

The two exchanged a solemn nod of respect, from one warrior to another, then the Jedi released the Mandalorian's hand, and turned to the man standing near the brightly-lit storage area.

"Jolee? What about you?"

"What about me?" the old man asked with a shrug. "I already knew who you were, but it wasn't my place to tell you. Wasn't up to me to just walk up to you and go 'Oh hey, by the way, you're the Dark Lord of the Sith!' Better off that you know, if you ask me."

Jolee paused, realized he was digressing, then shrugged again, and nodded seriously at the younger man. "Does it change anything? I'm not here to judge you. You'll do what you have to do, and I'll help if I can."

"Thank you, old timer," he said with a smirk, getting a dirty look from Jolee in return. Schooling his features to absolute neutrality, he turned his eyes next to the somewhat-twitchy, trigger-happy 'protocol' droid standing silently near the back of the room. "HK? You turning on me?"

The droid paused, as if not hearing correctly, then focused his visual sensors on the Jedi who had purchased him. "Commentary: I am…experiencing something unusual, master."

Raising an eyebrow, the Jedi asked, "What's happening?"

Another pause, then, "Answer: My programming is activating my deleted memory core." The droid paused again, connecting more data. "I believe I have a…homing system that is restoring it, master."

He calmly gestured with his left hand for HK to elaborate.

"Observation: My homing system is a function of my assassination protocols; that which I told you had been deactivated. _This_ system was not." HK-47's tone became musing. "It seems that the homing system deliberately restores my deleted memory upon…" Another pause to access data. "…Upon returning to my original master."

"Let me guess," the Jedi said, deadpan. "Me."

"Affirmation: Correct, master. Sith protocols maintain that all droid knowledge be deleted before assassination missions, and restored upon return. I have returned to you," the droid said proudly, "and my full functionality is under your personal command. It is a distinct pleasure to see you again, master."

"Uhh, great," the Jedi said, distinctly aware of Carth's eyes boring into his back. That sudden burst of memory on HK-47's part hadn't endeared him too well with the soldier. "You know, I'm not exactly Revan anymore, HK."

"Observation: That does not matter, master," the droid replied firmly. "I am your droid, regardless of your actions or personality."

"Wow," Mission said, raising an eyebrow at the droid. "What are the chances of that happening?"

"Remember," Canderous said to her, raising a finger instructively, "we're talking about the Force here. At this point, Malak himself could drop out of the sky and I wouldn't bat an eyelash."

"But you'd be the first to blast him," the former Revan said, turning to face the armored man.

Canderous laughed. "And deny you the opportunity to rip him to shreds for kidnapping Bastila? You must be joking."

"Touché."

At that point, the little astromech droid, T3-M4, rolled up in front of the Jedi and reeled off a string of whistles and beeps that few on the ship could understand.

"I knew the little guy would come through for you," Mission said. She obviously understood the astromech language. "Droids don't hold grudges," she said sagely, nodding in a theatrical manner.

Finally, the Jedi turned to face the pilot of the ship, as did the rest of the crew. "Well, Carth," he said. "Are you going to stand with me against Malak?"

"Well, the others seem to trust you," he answered, subdued. "And I don't see any other way that we can stop the Sith. And I suppose that Malak is the real enemy here. I really don't have any other choice, do I?"

"I won't let you down, Carth."

"I want to believe you," the soldier said. "You've proven yourself time and time again on our mission, but this is a little much for me to wrap my mind around."

The Jedi snorted. "How do you think I feel?" His tone was mild, so as not to provoke Carth, but there was no questioning the seriousness in his words.

"This must be even more of a shock to _you_," Carth replied, nodding. "I don't know how you even keep going. I guess we both just have to find a way to push forward." He paused, then continued, "Don't worry, I won't let my personal feelings get in the way of my assignments or this mission. But don't forget, I've sworn an oath to defend the Republic. As long as this mission stays on course, I'll stick with you. But I won't let you betray the Republic under any circumstances."

Carth sighed and looked up at the ceiling, as though letting all the toxin of the previous encounter bleed out into space. "So I guess that's it then," he said. "We keep going. We've still got one more Star Map to uncover if we're going to find that Star Forge and save Bastila, so let's do it before it's too late."

"And _that_ is something we agree on quite heartily, Carth," Canderous said.


	2. Interlude II: Revan's Ruminations

Sighing slowly, he switched off the laser shears and set the tool on the cabin floor beside him, staring down at the cylindrical object centered in its own little mini-shrine of spare parts, colored accoutrements, and energy crystals. At the moment, it was nothing but a section of chromed durasteel tube with an end cap secured by six black slats laser-welded to both the end cap and the tube.

"Something wrong with the lightsaber you've got?" a voice of wisdom asked from behind him. "Why are you building a new one?"

"I'd give you two guesses," he replied, "but you won't need either of them."

Jolee nodded and walked around in front of the troubled young Jedi, seating himself on the floor a respectable distance from his workspace. He glanced over the myriad of tools, color and energy crystals, and personal accents to the incomplete lightsaber. "May I?" he asked, pointing to the partially-complete tube.

The younger Jedi nodded, then rubbed his hands wearily over his face.

Wordlessly, Jolee picked up the lightsaber-in-progress and turned it over in his hands. With but a minor glance to the exterior, the old man flipped the handle up and peered down into the interior, staring at the intricate inner workings of the lightsaber. "Oh," he said amusedly. "That's an interesting arrangement for the energy matrices. Completely different from the way I learned it."

"It enhances the focus of the blade," the young man answered. "I had one like it before, and I used to be able to focus it narrow enough to fit between the seams of a datapad."

"Oh ho, that _is_ impressive," Jolee said with a smirk, reaching over to hand back the incomplete lightsaber. As he did so, his eyes fell on a collar-like device partially hidden beneath his comrade's leg. "Err, what, may I ask, are you doing with a neural disruptor?"

Kagi lifted his leg to look down at it, then sighed and placed his lightsaber hilt on the ground, then reached over to pick up the disruptor. "When I found Bastila on Taris, Brejik had her wearing it, not knowing that she could easily overpower it with the Force."

Jolee nodded, understanding immediately. "So you're going to break it down somehow and use a part of it on your new lightsaber. So that you don't forget Bastila."

"As if I could," Kagi replied, gently placing the collar down beside the work in progress lightsaber. "I can't feel her through our bond anymore, and that's only made things worse. I _know_ she's alive, Jolee, but I had gotten so used to our bond, such that now that I can't feel her through it, it's as though someone walked up and took off my arm."

"I know, kid," Jolee answered, nodding sympathetically. "You and Bastila are treading dangerous ground. You already know why the Jedi forbid love and attachments, so I'm going to forgo my right as an old-timer and spare you that lecture."

Kagi smiled slightly, but it soon vanished. But it had been a smile, Jolee noted. The older man reached out and laid a reassuring hand on the troubled Jedi's shoulder. "Bastila blocked the Force bond to spare you the agony that Malak is surely putting her through. She knows what you're capable of, and your history of reacting to injustices. Tack on the fact that you are also in love with her, and even a youngling would know that you'd go to extraordinary lengths to save her if you could feel what Malak was doing to her."

"What should I do, Jolee?"

That question, asked not with any form of condescension or anything but utter dejection, gave the older Jedi pause. He knew that his younger companion wanted nothing more than to tear off into the wilds of space and rescue his beloved, but they both knew Malak had taken her to the Star Forge, and none of them knew where that was. The forced inaction was taking its toll, slowly yet surely, on the redeemed Jedi.

"Honestly son, I don't know," Jolee said quietly, for once letting his façade of bluster and a snappy elder drop to the wayside. "I know how this whole situation is making you feel. But we're going to find Bastila. All we have to do is find this last map."

"Jolee, I know revenge and hate are wrong for the Jedi, but I don't want to take Malak prisoner," Kagi said, aware of the danger in what he was saying. "He took Bastila away from me. Never before have I known this kind of agony. I want him to die for what he's done."

"Son, you just have your new lightsaber done before we get to Malak," Jolee said, squeezing Kagi's shoulder reassuringly. "If you hesitate to strike Malak down, I'll take you by the hand and put your lightsaber through him for you."

---

"How are the repairs coming on the ship?" asked another deep voice, in another part of the _Ebon Hawk_.

Carth turned around in his pilot's seat to find Canderous standing in the doorway to the cockpit. The Mandalorian must've recently come from scrubbing up in the refresher; his hair was wet, there was a towel draped over his shoulders, and he was walking around barefoot with just some loose trousers on.

"Not too good," the Republic soldier answered, glancing over to the _Hawk_'s diagnostic display, with the engines still outlined in pulsing red. "T3 and HK are working as hard as they can, but that little gizka really stirred up a lot of trouble when it got into that hyperdrive motivator."

"Well, at least the good news is that the little snakeskin got shredded by the motivator," Canderous said, catching himself just before he dropped into the copilot's seat. Bastila always sat there, and in an unspoken agreement, the crew of the _Hawk_ had decided that no one else would sit there until she was returned to them.

Coughing into his hand as he awkwardly twisted away from the seat, Canderous continued, "Instant corrective measures for disobedient behavior."

Not wishing to talk about the deaths of innocent little creatures, Carth decided to change the subject. "You talk to Revan recently?"

"No, and I figure I won't," the Mandalorian replied, leaning against the galaxy map. Before Carth could question him, the man explained, "I'll follow him to the ends of the galaxy and kill anyone he tells me to, but right now his problem is a matter of the heart, and that's something I can't help him with."

"I guess you're right about that," Carth said with a nod. "It's just a shame to see him like this."

"That's just how much Bastila meant to him," Canderous agreed.

"So you're actually calling her by name now? I thought she was just the 'Ice Princess' to you."

"She _was_!" the mercenary said, stepping back. "We've got a mutual dislike for each other, that's for sure. But she got better after she started warming up to Revan. I may not like her personally, but I do respect that she is the only person in the galaxy who can truthfully say that she has conquered Revan."

Carth smiled slightly and leaned back in his seat. "It's kind of funny, now that you think about it. Revan was the greatest war hero the Republic had ever seen."

"Mandalorians, too," Canderous interjected. "In battle, he was unbeatable. The entire might of the Mandalorian clans could not topple him."

"But the mighty Revan was laid low by a humble Jedi Knight, by name Bastila Shan," Carth said.

"I agree with everything but the humble part," Canderous replied, deadpan.

"Hmm, good point."

Republic soldier and Mandalorian warrior, bitter enemies only five years ago, shared in a heartwarming laugh.

---

"How are you feeling?"

"I've been better, Mission," Kagi replied, welding a black band of metal around the activation plate of his new lightsaber, in a sort of a collar for the purpose of keeping the plate in place. With that complete, he set tool and incomplete lightsaber aside, and glanced over his shoulder at the young Twi'lek girl. "Need something, Mission?"

"I just wanted to see how you were doing," she said, seating herself on Canderous' bunk. She held a bulky, wrapped parcel in her arms. "You building a new lightsaber?"

"Yeah. Mostly just to pass the time, and focus my mind."

Mission nodded solemnly. "I understand. Having to drift in realspace while the engines are getting fixed must be driving you crazy."

He smiled tightly. "It is, Mission. It is." Stretching his arms out fully in front of him until the joints of his elbows popped loudly, Kagi looked over at the girl. "So. You never did tell me how you found out about Bastila and I."

The Twi'lek grinned mischievously. "You seem to forget that I was the sneakiest urchin on Taris. I could get in and out of everywhere. Compared to surviving most of my life in the Undercity, spying on you and Bastila in the portside cabin was a breeze."

"Ah. So then how did Canderous know?"

"He, uh…caught me," she replied sheepishly. "Told me that I'd better tell him what was going on or he'd tell you about the extra rations I'd been­– whoops."

Kagi laughed. "So that's where all those rations have been disappearing to. I thought we had two stowaways."

"Yeah… Anyways, so then I told him that I'd been spying on you and Bastila, and he figured out the rest from there." The young girl narrowed her eyes thoughtfully at her Jedi friend. "But you know, it's not exactly like it was hard to notice that you two were growing awfully sweet on each other."

"Hutt drool," Kagi replied off-hand, waving that thought away.

"You were!" Mission exclaimed. "You were sweet on her from the moment you met her!"

"How would you know?" he asked.

"Because I'm a woman!" she huffed, planting her fists on her hips. "I can tell when a man is sweet on somebody, and you were _definitely_ sweet on Bastila." Lowering her voice to a whisper, Mission glanced around conspiratorially before leaning forward. "Though to tell you the truth, Bastila was also sweet on you from very early on. It was difficult to pick out sometimes, but I figured that her high-and-mighty attitude was just a façade she put on, especially to you, once she realized how she felt about you."

Kagi nodded thoughtfully, rubbing his chin. "Now that you mention it, it makes a lot more sense now why Bastila was so touchy on the subject of romance between us. It's not because we were Jedi, it's because of who _I_ was."

Mission frowned slightly and patted him on the knee. "She didn't know you had grown beyond the dark lord back then. But then she realized that you had left Revan behind, that you _were_ Kagi, and she couldn't stop herself from falling for you."

He nodded appreciatively, but thoughts of Bastila were the last things he needed. To distract himself, he pointed to Mission's parcel. "What've you got there?"

Glancing down at the package in her lap, Mission picked it up, then handed it to the Jedi. "It's for you."

Raising an eyebrow, Kagi took the package in his hands and carefully unwrapped the paper wrapping, revealing a mass of cloth that was a dark brown color. Grabbing it by a side, he pulled up on it, and kept pulling. Realizing how large the thing was, he stood up, allowing the paper to fall to the floor, and let the cloth object fully unfold itself. Once it had done so, he realized what it was.

"A Jedi cloak," he said. "Why are you giving me this? A Jedi doesn't receive a cloak until they become a knight."

The Twi'lek girl shrugged helplessly. "It's not from me. I was told to give it to you."

"Who is it from?" he asked, turning it around in his hands, inspecting it.

"Bastila."

He froze in place, folding the cloak in half lengthwise, then laying it over his left arm. "Bastila told you to give this to me?"

Mission nodded. "Right before we left Manaan, she gave me this package and told me to give it to you if anything happened to her."

Moving as though his blood had been replaced by slow-drying permacrete, Kagi turned and looked down at the cloak, running his fingers over the fabric. Slowly, he unfolded the cloak, slipped his arms into its sleeves, and settled it over his shoulders. Once it was in place, he looked down to see how far the cloak trailed. It stopped just at the tops of his boot soles. Perfect length.

Moving into the center of the cabin, he positioned himself as though he were holding a lightsaber, testing the cloak's range of movement. He twisted his arms as though engaged in a lightsaber duel, not feeling a single catch or snag in the cloak's movement over his form.

It was perfectly-fitted to him.

_Bastila…_ He squeezed his eyes shut, willing himself not to outwardly show the immense pain in his heart.

"She also gave me a message for you," Mission's quiet voice broke the silence. "She said to tell you that this cloak is a gift from her, and despite the fact that you have not yet achieved the title of Jedi Knight, you are the knight of her heart."

* * *

**A/N:** This chapter was meant as little more than a bridging chapter, since Battle of the Heroes is a series of one-shots, and not a true novelization of KOTOR. And just so that everyone's on the same page here, the party went to Kashyyyk first, then Tatooine, then Manaan. While on Manaan, Bastila and Revan admitted their feelings for one another shortly after arrival. Distraught that she had admitted, both to him and to herself, that she loved Revan, Bastila went out wandering Ahto City, while it was Canderous and Carth that accompanied Revan on the quest to the Hrakert(sp) Rift. While they were gone, Bastila had the special cloak made for Revan, in a little event that I may add in, should I ever do an actual KOTOR novelization. -Hint- 

And it generally goes without saying that they were captured by the _Leviathan_ after leaving Manaan. And a few random notes? Even though I don't have an actual savegame with Revan's name being "Kagi" I decided to use that in lieu of using the generic "Chris Ganale" that I use everywhere else. And this damaged hyperdrive motivator thing? Just something random I came up with to delay the crew's travel to Korriban, which is next.


	3. Interlude III: Korriban

The cockpit of the _Ebon Hawk_ was silent as the ship soared through space in the Korriban system, en route to the only inhabited planet in the system. In the cockpit, Carth adjusted the ship's course with the delicate hands of a born pilot, while Kagi stood behind the instrument panel, arms crossed over his chest.

He'd had another vision while en route to the system through hyperspace; he knew that the Star Map he sought was in a tomb somewhere on the planet's surface. But he was used to coming up to the cockpit just before landing to hear Bastila give him some background on the planet. Her absence was like a gaping hole in his chest.

"Coming up on Korriban," Carth said quietly. "I'm not picking up any Sith ships on our scope, so we should be fine to land."

"What's the main settlement on Korriban?" Kagi asked, desperate to take his mind off Bastila. They were going into a Sith stronghold; any stray thoughts of her plight could be disastrous.

"A small colony in the southern hemisphere, called Dreshdae. Seems to be the only population center on the planet." Carth paused, and looked back at the Jedi. "It's connected directly to their Sith academy. We should be careful."

"I'm more worried for their sake than for mine…" Kagi mused quietly.

---

As the _Ebon Hawk_ settled itself after landing inside the Dreshdae spaceport, the atmosphere inside the ship was of high tension. The silence of the cockpit had expanded to fill most of the ship, except for the squeaky, lizard like gizka.

Canderous, Carth, Mission, and HK-47 were busy checking and preparing their weapons for use, both various blaster-type weapons and vibroblades. Jolee was seated on the medical bay's bed, his lightsaber balanced across his palms as he meditated. Juhani quietly roamed the ship, taking it upon herself to patrol, and be the crew's first warning should the Sith attempt to board their vessel.

For his part, Kagi gathered up all the materials he had used to construct his new lightsaber, which was still not yet complete, and secured them in the storage bin under his bunk. With that done, he picked up the new cloak that Mission had given him, from Bastila, while in transit to Korriban and pulled it on.

It was a nice cloak, he had to admit. It was a very dark brown, almost to the point of being black. The color was like Bastila's hair. He gently ran the fingers of his right hand over the fabric of the left sleeve. Soft. Jedi clothing was supposed to be rough, but he didn't care. Was Bastila's hair this soft? He didn't know. He'd never had the chance to discover.

He gently patted the flowing sleeves of the cloak, then reached up and grasped the hood with both hands. It was a large hood. Pulling it up into place, it easily concealed his face in shadows. All the better; the fewer Sith that could identify him as Revan, the better off they'd be.

Now ready for his expedition to the planet's surface, Kagi departed his cabin and entered the main area with the holoprojector, where the crew was waiting. Waiting for his orders, he knew. With Bastila gone, he was the de facto mission leader.

"Canderous, HK, you'll come with me," he said quietly. "We find the Star Map, get the coordinates, and get out fast. Carth, stay on the ship, keep her ready to go at a moment's notice. The rest of you, be on your guard. If we're lucky, the Sith won't discover who we are until we're well out of the system and on our way to the Forge."

"You got it," Carth said, nodding. "I'll keep the engines running."

"Statement: It is my fervent wish that we begin our search by indiscriminately blasting any and all of the Sith meatbags that we come across," HK-47 said, deadpan as usual. And as usual, his right manipulator was fingering the trigger of the Mandalorian assault rifle eagerly.

"Between us three the Sith wouldn't stand a chance even _if_ they found out who we were," Canderous said, sealing his helmet in place over his torso armor. With that done, he clicked off the safety of his heavy repeating blaster and hefted the huge weapon, nodding at the Jedi. "Ready whenever you are."

"Let's go," Kagi said. "The sooner we get this done, the sooner we'll have Bastila back."

All present, except the two droids, nodded their assent to that idea.

---

"Ah, I see," said a voice speaking the Twi'lek language. "Another Jedi come to small Korriban, yes? Good to meet you."

Kagi refrained from releasing an un-Jedi-like oath. With a cloak like the one he was wearing, it was only obvious he'd be identified as a Jedi. But it still could hide his actual identity…

"Jedi come here often, do they?" he asked in Basic, knowing the Twi'lek dock master had to understand the language.

"There are many people who come to Korriban from throughout Sith space hoping to join the academy," the green-skinned alien answered in a conspiratorial tone. "Some of them are Jedi who have left the order. You will get into the academy for certain. I understand Jedi who have left the light side are made very welcome."

"So I imagine."

"But enough about that," the Twi'lek said, returning his voice to normal levels. "It is very nice to see the _Ebon Hawk_ has returned. I have not seen that ship for some time, indeed. Since you're a regular to our little colony, the docking fee is only twenty-five credits."

Without a word, Kagi fished the appropriate number of credit chips from a pocket inside his tunic and handed them to the dock master, who in turn pocketed them.

"Excellent," the alien said, triggering open the door to the colony behind him. "Continue on through. Please be aware that the colony is under Sith jurisdiction. I'd advise you to stay out of their way."

Kagi exchanged a glance with Canderous, then the trio turned and made their way into the colony proper. "Enjoy your stay in Dreshdae," the Twi'lek called as they passed him.

As they made their way inside, Canderous leaned in close to Kagi. "That academy he was talking about may have the information we need on the Star Map," he said. "You can bet it won't be easy to get in there, though."

"We'll figure something out," Kagi replied, moving to the left side of the corridor and pulling his hood close over his features. There was a Sith officer and three worn-out looking civilians occupying the bend in the corridor.

"…is the wrong answer," the Sith officer continued, oblivious to the newcomers' presence. "Again! You pathetic hopefuls can't possibly all be this stupid, can you?"

"Please, Master Shaardan!" one of the civilians, a Twi'lek, beseeched in his own language. "Give us a chance! We'll do anything to get into the academy!"

Under his breath, Kagi swore. At the same time the civilian had called the officer 'Master,' Kagi had caught sight of the lightsaber hanging from the man's belt. Just great. A dark Jedi, not an ordinary officer. This wasn't going to be a pleasant stay.

With a pair of hand signals, he communicated this knowledge to Canderous and HK, then moved to pass the group by.

"Humph," the officer said. "I'm no master yet, but I like the sound of that. Alright, one more question, though the lot of you are trying my patience. Alright, let's say you become a Sith and I am your…"

The voice of the Sith officer trailed to nothingness as the trio from the _Hawk_ squeezed past them and continued up the hallway. Good, they hadn't been caught thus far.

"You! Jedi!" the voice of the officer called out from behind them. Swearing again, Kagi turned to face the man, keeping his face hidden. "You're looking to get into the academy, are you not?" The officer considered something, then muttered to himself, "Of course you are; why else would you be here?"

Kagi waited, saying nothing. The man cleared his throat, then spoke up, "Let me pose a question to you. These hopefuls will never survive the academy. A lesson must be taught here, but I am at a loss as to what form it should take."

"Advisement," HK-47 spoke up suddenly. "Evisceration works well. Electrocution and blunt trauma also work well, I understand."

"I wasn't talking to you, droid," the officer snapped impatiently. "I'm thinking to spare them the effort of being killed and do it myself. Perhaps I shall turn their skin inside out. Or Force Lightning? It is a most impressive display." The officer snapped his fingers. "Or perhaps a bit of humiliation is in order! I could easily strip off their tunics and make them run through the colony. Or they could lose all control of their bodily functions…"

"Or you will stop bothering me and keeping me from going about my business," Kagi interrupted, waving his right hand imperceptibly.

"Or I will stop bothering you and keeping you from going about your business," the officer said, as though it were a novel idea. "Yes, that is what I will do! Good day, young hopeful."

With that situation defused satisfactorily, Kagi turned away and continued to lead his group onward into the colony. He paid no attention to the fate of the civilians behind him.

"Suggestion: Master, perhaps we should have blasted all four of the meatbags," HK said. "It would have saved us considerable time."

"We can't go around blasting everyone we meet," Canderous responded. "Yet."

Ahead of them was obviously the welcome center of the colony. It was not impressive, consisting of nothing more than a medium-sized lobby with a desk staffed by a Rodian. Kagi didn't even bother to speak to him, just continued past him. It was then that he noticed the three Sith officers standing near the only other way out of the room. He'd have to pass them by.

Continuing his slow-paced walk, Kagi moved to stride right past them and ignore them. They, of course, were not so obligatory. "Look here, my dear friends!" the blonde woman in the middle said, venom dripping from every word. "Some newcomers to the colony, led by a Jedi no less. I don't believe I've seen any of them before, have you?"

"I _hate_ Jedi," remarked one of her comrades, a dark-haired male. "And these fallen ones are worse. They always get into the academy and they think they're better than the rest of us."

"You should turn around and move along, kid," Canderous said, waving his left hand dismissively. "You don't want the trouble we'd give you."

The woman laughed scornfully. "Smart-mouthed newcomers, to boot."

"Looks pretty fresh to me, Lashowe," the other Sith, a dark-skinned male, said. It was obvious that by 'fresh' he meant 'fresh meat.'

"That's what I thought," the woman, identified as Lashowe, said. "Well stranger, I don't know whether you're aware of this or not, but here on Korriban the Sith do as they please. And _we_ are Sith. Quite literally, whether you live or die depends on our whim. What do you think of that, hmm?"

"I say you couldn't kill me," Kagi replied. "You could try, but you'd fail."

To Kagi's right, HK made a noise that sounded eerily like a human laugh as he enthusiastically hefted his assault rifle. "Commentary: That's the way to tell the meatbags, master!" The assassin droid paused, and flicked off the safety switch of the rifle. "Charging weapons, just in case. This should be fun!"

"Those are very brave words for such an insignificant person," Lashowe said defiantly. "Do you not realize how many Sith are here in Dreshdae?"

"Not enough to save your sorry ass," Canderous replied with a deadpan tone and a slight shrug.

"Let me kill this one, Lashowe!" the light-skinned Sith pleaded. "Let me do it!"

"Now, now, let's not be hasty," Lashowe replied, motioning for him to settle down with her right hand. "Perhaps our friend here could yet offer up some amusement." She turned to Kagi. "What do you say? Amuse us. Make us laugh, and we might just consider allowing you to live."

"Statement: My patience with this meatbag is growing thin, master. May I blast her now?"

"Speaking of patience," Canderous said to Kagi, "I once again feel the need to comment on the surprising extent of yours."

"I'm more trouble than you can handle," Kagi told the obnoxious Sith woman, fighting against the urge to draw his lightsaber and carve a different expression into her face.

"_What?"_ she snapped.

Her dark-skinned companion laughed aloud. "I think someone just stood up to you, Lashowe," he said with a snicker.

"Shut up, fool," she snapped, backhanding the man. "Unless you want to be next."

"Yeah?" he said, cradling his jaw. "Anytime!"

"Stop it," the other Sith said, waving his hand dismissively. "This is boring. Let's just go back to the academy."

The Sith woman took several moments to regain her composure, then nodded. "Fine, we'll go." She turned a venomous smile to Kagi and his group. "As for you? We'll find you later."

"Find _us_?" Canderous mocked after they had departed. He laughed. "She couldn't find her own backside with both hands and help from a spotter satellite."

Kagi nodded and laughed a bit at the Mandalorian's quip. "Now if we can just avoid another confrontation like that, it won't need to get violent in here."

"Disappointed query: I could perhaps arrange another such 'confrontation' in the hopes of provoking violence?" HK asked.

"Maybe later."

"Pleased response: I am greatly anticipating that time to come, master!"

Pulling the hood of his cloak tightly over his head, Kagi continued forward through the corridor. As they passed the local Czerka office, Kagi glanced inside, but did not enter. Czerka Corporation had not been helpful to them on any of the other planets they had searched out the Star Maps on; no reason to believe that it would be any different on this planet.

The corridor angled down slightly, and Kagi matched the change in gradient without any change in the speed of his forward motion. Ahead, about five meters in front of them and to their left, was another opening off the main corridor. From the faint music drifting from within, Kagi wagered that it was the local cantina. Perhaps some useful information could be found there.

As the trio entered the bar, Kagi glanced around to ascertain any possible threats. Two very drunk Sith officers were in various states of relaxation on the bar top, much to the chagrin of the Rodian bartender. Off to the left, a pair of star pilots sat at a table, quietly carrying on a conversation over drinks that Kagi had to assume were light in alcoholic content, if they had any at all.

Just to their left, almost invisible from the door, a Rodian and a human were also engaged in a conversation, ignoring the bar around them. To their right, another Rodian was sitting at a card table, shuffling through a deck of cards. A pazaak player. Might not necessarily be a bad place to start for information. Then he'd go to the bartender.

He turned to face Canderous. "Why don't you get yourself a drink? I'm going to have a word with our friend the card player over there."

"Sounds good to me," Canderous replied, and made his way over to the bar.

With HK trailing him, Kagi walked over to the card table and seated himself across from the Rodian.

"Greetings, sentient," the Rodian said in his native language. "Are you willing to engage in a hand of pazaak? I am afraid there are few takers on Korriban. It would be good to have a little fun, for once."

"I heard you sell…special items," Kagi said, putting a fine amount of emphasis on the word special.

As he said that, the Rodian became very still. He looked around once, then leaned forward so he could speak quietly, but not quite whispering. Whispers drew attention, whereas quiet conversation did not. "Yes, to the right buyer," he said, still in his native language. "We did not know you were trustworthy, so we did not approach you. But all that has changed now, Lord Revan."

Kagi gestured with his left hand for the Rodian to keep it down. "Keep that to yourself," he said, before taking a glance around as well. "I do not go by Revan anymore."

"It is no matter," the Rodian replied. "Whatever you call yourself, the fact stands that you want revenge on your former apprentice, correct? You want to kill Malak?"

A hot surge of anger ran through him at the mention of the name, but he forced it down. "Yes, but not for the reasons you think."

The Rodian shrugged. "In truth, your reasons do not matter to me or my partner. But we do believe in your power. We believe you will bring Malak down, and we want to help you. In our own, small fashion."

Kagi nodded. "What do you have for sale?"

"Right to business," the Rodian said with a nod. "I carry only the rarest of items. Expensive, yes, but worth every credit. Weapons, armor, equipment, I carry a little of everything."

"Let's see them."

From beneath the table, the Rodian produced a datapad. The text was all in Rodeese, but Kagi could read it easily enough. He scrolled down the list, finally saw something worthwhile. "These Verpine shields. I'll take two of them."

"Ah, good choice, good choice," the Rodian said, then pointed to a small sensor on the surface of the datapad. "Thumbprint there to acknowledge credit transfer, and we'll deliver them to your ship right away."

Nodding, Kagi pressed his thumb against the sensor, then handed the datapad back to the Rodian. "Thank you."

"Thank _you_," the Rodian answered as he returned the datapad underneath the table. "Is there anything else I can do for you?"

"Yes, actually," Kagi said, leaning against the table. "I want some information. Do you know anything about a Star Map on this planet?"

"A star map?" the Rodian repeated, confusion in his voice. "Could you be more specific?"

"Very old," Kagi replied. "Perhaps involved in the Sith excavations?"

The Rodian tapped his chin with his sucker-tipped fingers for a moment. "It could be possible. But most of their excavation has to do with their Valley of the Dark Lords."

Kagi nodded. "Thank you very much." He stood up, nodding to HK, and turned to call Canderous over.

What he found was the Mandalorian warrior on his feet, with the tunic of one of the drunk Sith officers bunched up in his left hand, with the officer himself bent backwards over the bar, and his right hand raised into the air, balled into a fist. Clearly, Canderous was preparing to manually remove a couple of the Sith's teeth and at least a pint of blood.

"Canderous!" Kagi called out. "What's going on here?"

"Stay over there!" the Mandalorian replied. "You don't want to hear what this Sith slime just said!"

"Slime?" the officer slurred. "I may be slime, but at least _I'm_ going to get to have some _fun_ with that new–"

"SHUT UP!" Canderous roared, slamming his armored fist into the officer's face. A hard cracking sound that must have been the officer's nose was heard when the Mandalorian hit him, and the now-unconscious officer slumped, out. Canderous released the unfortunate man, letting him fall limply to the ground.

Calmly, Kagi approached the remaining officer, planting himself directly between Canderous and the terrified officer. "What did your companion say?" Kagi asked, voice quiet as death.

The half-drunk officer shook his head adamantly, fear evident in his eyes. "No way, I'm not going to tell you. Your muscle there would break my face too."

"Revan, you _don't_ want to hear what he said," Canderous whispered, quietly enough that the officer couldn't hear.

"I'll determine that," Kagi replied calmly, then turned and imperceptibly waved his hand at the officer. "You will tell me what your companion said."

Something changed in the officer's expression, doubtless a result of Kagi's Force compulsion, and he relented. "He was just talking about that new Jedi girl that Lord Malak captured. Said it's a shame that Lord Malak's going to turn her to the dark side, instead of letting us men have some new fun."

Kagi stiffened noticeably, even under the heavy cloak.

Canderous shook his head slowly. "I told you you wouldn't enjoy it…"

The Jedi ignored him, his eyes boring into the soul of the Sith officer. He motioned with his hand again. "What exactly do you mean by 'new fun'?"

"Oh, you know. A call girl. Rotate her around the ships of the fleet; let the men enjoy her a little."

There was a rustling of cloth beneath Kagi's robes, then a moment of silence. Then the impossibly-loud _snap-hiss_ of an igniting lightsaber shattered the quiet of the cantina. The Sith officer's face contorted in pain as he stumbled pack, Kagi's blue-bladed lightsaber driving into his stomach and protruding from his back.

Kagi pulled his arm out to the side, twisting the lightsaber's angle before drawing it out of the Sith officer's body, letting the dead or dying man fall to the cantina floor. The Jedi turned, scanning the cantina for more Sith.

To his right, Canderous shook his head and charged his repeating blaster. "I knew this wouldn't end well," he muttered to himself.

On Kagi's other side, HK-47 gleefully primed his Mandalorian assault rifle. "Pleased exclamation: Finally, we get to blast the meatbags indiscriminately!"

Without a word, Kagi began walking forward, the hum of his lightsaber the sinister hiss of a serpent prepared to strike.

A trio of Sith soldiers turned into the cantina. Their leader quickly spotted the two Sith laid out on the floor, and the trio advancing toward them, heavily-armed. He made an instant, but fatal, decision. He ordered his men to fire.

Kagi's cerulean blade immediately rose up in front of him, intercepting a blaster bolt and sending it back to the soldier who had fired it. That soldier, on the far left of the Sith formation, took it in the chest and collapsed backwards, his armor clattering loudly on the tiled floor. A trio of bolts from HK's assault rifle folded the rightmost trooper over and deposited him on the ground. A hailstorm of white fire from Canderous' repeating blaster picked the last trooper up bodily and flung him against the far wall, peppering the wall with burn holes.

The trio emerged into the main corridor of the colony. Several of the colony citizens, having seen what just occurred, ran panicking in terror away from them. Another quartet of Sith troopers charged down the ramp at them, their blasters spitting hot light. Not one managed to touch any of them, however, as Kagi effortlessly redirected their bolts into the floor, the walls, and in the case of one unlucky trooper, back into the shooter's face.

HK and Canderous returned a wall of blasterfire against the Sith troopers, cutting down another trooper and sending the remaining two diving for cover. With his left hand, Kagi gestured to the sign just outside the cantina. The heavy durasteel sign tore free of the ground, turning in midair until the broken end of its pole was facing the enemy troops. With another hand gesture, the sign flew through the air faster than the eye could follow, driving into the chest of a Sith trooper and knocking that man to the ground. A pool of blood quickly spread around the dead man.

"HK," Kagi said, his voice low and deathly quiet. "Get back to the ship and warn the others about the Sith attack. Canderous, cover me."

"Affirmation: As you command, master!" HK exclaimed, stepping out of cover and marching forward, gunning down the last trooper as he did so.

Canderous stepped out into the middle of the corridor, placing his body directly in front of Kagi's as the Jedi turned off his lightsaber and returned it to his belt. Kagi then lifted both hands and made a pulling gesture toward the sealed door leading outside, toward the Sith academy.

After a few moments, the upper right section of metal peeled toward them, then up and to the right. Moments later, the lower right section peeled down and away. After all of the metal door sections had been peeled like a banana, Kagi pulled his lightsaber out again, activating it with a cruel-sounding _snap-hiss_.

The Jedi glanced back to Canderous. "Let's move."

Outside, beyond the ramp leading out of the colony, the dead, brown sands of Korriban waited for them. Across a manmade bridge, Kagi could see the entrance to the Sith academy. Holding his lightsaber at his side, he advanced forward.

As they approached, Kagi realized that the academy entrance was set into the side of a mountain; he had no way of knowing how far into the rock it extended. His examination of the academy's entrance was cut short, however, by a Sith officer walking up to him. No, not an officer. Kagi saw the lightsaber hanging at the young man's waist; this was an apprentice he faced.

"You there," the apprentice said, sniffing haughtily. "What's wrong with you, bringing an ignited lightsaber before the Sith academy?" He gestured to the guard standing at the entrance. "We shall confiscate that until you have learned your place."

As the guard approached, Kagi spun the lightsaber around his hand several times, waiting. Then, when the guard reached striking range, Kagi lunged forward, driving his lightsaber into the guard's gut all the way up to the hilt. As he began to withdraw, he heard the _snap-hiss_ of the apprentice activating his own lightsaber and beginning his swing.

Straight out of the guard's body, Kagi's blue blade stopped the apprentice's red blade in midair. The Jedi narrowed his eyes, disgusted by the lack of talent in this apprentice that he could hold the man at bay with merely one hand upon his lightsaber. He slid his blade up the length of the apprentice's, over the top, and then back down, severing the man's right hand at the wrist.

As the apprentice screamed in pain, Kagi brought up his left hand, seeing the Sith with the Force, and then flung his hand as far to his left as he could. No sooner had he done so than the Sith went flying through the air, over the edge of the nearby cliff, his scream echoing as the man plunged to his doom.

Lowering his hand, Kagi turned his eyes on the three civilians that the apprentice had been torturing by whatever means, and he spun his lightsaber again around his hand. They got the message; two seconds later, there were no souls on that side of the bridge but Kagi and Canderous.

"How are we going to get inside?" Canderous asked, pointing to the temple entrance. "That thing is solid stone, and I don't have any explosives that can punch through it."

"Simple," Kagi said, striding up to the door.

He took a moment to look the door over, then reared back and plunged his lightsaber into its center, all the way up to the hilt. Molten rock began to drip away from the point of contact. He turned the lightsaber in his grip, and glowing tendrils of molten rock split out from the center of the door. With a monstrous _crack_, a huge chunk of rock fell away, slamming against the dusty ground with a bone-jarring thud.

Several more large chunks of rock and several minutes later, Kagi had opened a hole in the door large enough for either man to walk through fully upright, with plenty of room to spare on all sides.

"Impressive," Canderous muttered, hefting his repeating blaster. "After you," he told Kagi, knowing that the angry young Jedi would not have it any other way.

---

Far across the galaxy, Bastila steeled her resolve as the door to her chamber slid open, and Malak once more strode in. As smug as the Sith lord usually looked, he appeared to be twice as much now.

Almost in a form of standard greeting, Malak lifted his left hand and sent a powerful blast of Force lightning into Bastila's chained form. The young Jedi gritted her teeth, refusing to cry out even as the tremendous pain wracked her nerve endings and sent her into convulsions.

After a moment, far too short for this to be another attempt to break her, Malak relented. Freed from her rebellious muscles, Bastila sagged forward as far as her chains would allow her, hanging her head down to her chest, allowing her unrestrained hair to fall before her face.

"What do you want, Malak?" she demanded, her exhaustion robbing her voice of her usual defiant tone.

The Sith lord laughed mechanically, fixing his yellow eyes on his captive. "I just came to give you the good news, Bastila. I can sense what Revan is doing. I know you could too, if you hadn't exhausted so much of your energy in blocking your Force bond. I just thought I'd let you know what he was up to."

"You needn't tell me that," Bastila replied, raising her head a few inches to stare into the Sith's eyes. "He's making plans to rescue me, and _kill_ you."

Malak laughed again, and crossed the room until he was standing beside Bastila. This was not enough, he leaned down and grabbed her chin harshly, turning her head until her face was only inches from his. "You're close, Bastila, very close. You _are_ involved in what he's doing. At this very moment, Revan is slaughtering the entire colony on Korriban, and falling to the dark side in the progress."

Bastila could not keep the horror off her face. "No!" she screamed. "You're lying! Kagi would not fall to the dark side! He promised he wouldn't!"

His expression souring, Malak backhanded Bastila, then stood up straight. "_You_ are the one lying, and lying to yourself. There is no such person as this '_Kagi_' you speak of. Only Revan, and he is returning to the dark side, where he belongs. And it is all _your_ fault."

Before she could reply, Malak turned and departed from her chamber. The slamming of the stone door held such finality that Bastila could not contain her emotions. Resting her head back against the stone pillar she was chained to, Bastila did nothing to stop the steady stream of tears flowing from her eyes. She didn't care that she had failed in the mission the Council had given her, to watch over the former Darth Revan.

She cried because the man she loved had fallen to the dark side, and it had been because of her.

* * *

**A/N:** Yeah guys, I know that it was the bartender Rodian that sold you the stuff, but I had to take creative license to add the drama I wanted in there. :3  



	4. Interlude IV: Revan

It was almost silent in the main chamber of the Sith academy, where the Sith Master Uthar Wynn meditated upon the dark side of the Force. Elsewhere, the faint pained cries of hopeful Sith echoed through the construct, and the hum and clash of lightsabers from the training center were faintly heard.

The echoes of Kagi's booted feet impacting against the stone floor reverberated off the rough-hewn walls of the main chamber as the Jedi passed under the stone archway that marked the end of the exterior corridor. As soon as Canderous was clear of the door behind him, Kagi stopped, the deactivated hilt of his lightsaber held tightly in his right hand, his face hidden in the shadows of his hood.

Uthar looked up curiously at this intrusion, his deformed features twisting in confusion. "Is there a _reason_ you have intruded upon my Academy, Jedi?" he asked angrily.

Kagi did not answer. Instead, he gestured toward the doorway leading into the student dorms, and the massive stone slab ground downwards until it locked into its sealed position. He repeated the gesture, and the door that led back toward the Valley of the Dark Lords also sealed, as did the door to the training area, and the door back toward the colony.

"What is the meaning of this?" Uthar demanded, igniting his lightsaber. "Answer me now, or face the wrath of a Sith Lord!"

This time, Kagi answered. He brought up his right arm, a blue flash of light accompanying the _snap-hiss_ sound of his lightsaber springing to life, before he fluidly swung his arm to the left, beheading the unarmed Sith guard standing beside the door.

"Republic spy!" Uthar bellowed, raising his lightsaber in a defensive posture. "Guards, kill him!"

The three guards standing at the other doorways raised their weapons to comply, but Canderous was faster than them, sweeping a pattern of blasterfire over all three doorways, instantly gunning down the troops standing there.

A pair of unarmed students ran for the door into the dormitory, looking to get help. With a gesture of his left hand, Kagi caught one of them in the Force, throwing the student over the edge of the pit surrounding the arena-like meditation chamber. The student's shrill scream was interrupted when his spine impacted the stone wall before falling into the pit, resulting in an audible snapping sound.

The other student reached the door, and tried to no avail to get it open. "Master Uthar!" the student cried. "The door won't–" A burst of blasterfire from Canderous cut down the misguided young man in midsentence.

From across the room, two Sith instructors ignited their lightsabers and charged Kagi. He could sense them in the Force, sense their almost nonexistent levels of power. These were not true dark Jedi, not true Sith. They were dilettantes.

As the first one reached him and swung, he took a step forward, adding the motion into the power of his parry, which knocked the 'teacher' off-balance. He spun to his right, laying open the Sith's spine with a caress of his lightsaber blade.

The other instructor reached him next, bringing his lightsaber around for a horizontal attack at Kagi's midsection. The Jedi expertly parried the attack, forcing the instructor's lightsaber downwards and holding it there, despite the man's efforts to dislodge Kagi's lightsaber. Twisting the lightsaber in his grip until he held it inverted, Kagi pivoted his lightsaber around, neatly severing both hands of the Sith instructor.

As the instructor collapsed to his knees, the horror of the smoking stumps that had been his hands dulling the pain of the suddenly-clipped nerve endings, Kagi spun his lightsaber around his hand and drove it into the instructor's chest, then pulled it out just as quickly.

Turning his face toward Uthar as Canderous burned down the only remaining Sith in the room, Kagi lifted his lightsaber up, the light from the blade temporarily dispelling the shadows of the hood, and revealing his face to Uthar.

The Sith Master gasped. "L-Lord Revan! You're still alive!"

Kagi could sense, through the Force, that the man had lowered his defenses. A stupid move. His left hand rose and closed partially, as though grasping the hilt of a lightsaber. At the same time, the energies of the Force seized Uthar and lifted him into the air.

The angry young Jedi clenched his hand slightly, and the sound of snapping bones echoed around the room. "Tell me where to find the Star Map," he demanded, anger bleeding through every word. "Tell me, and I will show you mercy."

"It's…it's in the tomb of…Naga…Sadow…" Uthar replied, straining against the pain of his broken bones.

"Good," Kagi said.

He lifted up his right hand, the tip of the lightsaber blade aimed unerringly for Uthar's throat. With an invisible surge in the Force, the glowing energy weapon flew out of the Jedi's hand, straighter than a blaster bolt, and impaled the Sith Master's throat, nearly severing his head. Kagi then opened his left hand, letting the dead body drop to the ground as the lightsaber flew back to his other hand.

"Stay here," Kagi told Canderous, as he strode toward the exit into the valley. "Do not let any Sith follow me."

"It will be as you wish," Canderous replied.

As Kagi crossed the center of the room, the door in front of him exploded open, revealing two battle droids and four Sith officers. The Jedi marched right into their fire. The two shots of one of the droids passed meters over Kagi's head, then in a flash of azure fire, two smoking halves of a battle droid clattered to the stone floor. Those halves were soon joined by the corpse of a Sith officer who had been using the droid for cover.

The other officers broke and fled, fleeing for the relative safety deeper in the academy. Kagi spun his lightsaber around his hand twice, then swung it up and vertically down behind his back, the blade positioned perfectly to reflect a blaster bolt from the second droid back into its own head.

As the droid clattered noisily to the stone floor, Kagi stopped in place, turning slightly back toward Canderous to assure that nothing else was alive, except the Mandalorian, in the room. As he did so, Canderous caught sight of the rage on the Jedi's face, of the hate-filled yellow glow to the man's eyes.

Then Kagi turned and continued on, leaving Canderous with the distinct impression that he'd just gotten a mere _glimpse_ of what Kagi used to be as the Dark Lord of the Sith.

---

Evil laughter, combined with the crackling energy of Force lightning and feminine screams, echoed through the corridors of an ancient temple on a forgotten world.

"You are strong, child," Malak said, leaning over Bastila's chained form. "But I _will_ break you."

"I will never fall to the dark side," Bastila snapped defiantly, turning her head away from him.

Malak turned and walked a few paces away from her, not responding. A buildup charge of energy within the room caused the hair on the back of her neck to stand on end. Suddenly, the Sith lord spun, turning his right hand out toward her, and another fiery barrage of lightning shot between them in an instant, simultaneously assaulting all of her nerve endings. She screamed in pain, writhing against the chains that held her in place.

After a moment, the dark lord relented. Taking a moment to regain her composure, Bastila turned defiant eyes on him. "You think torture will turn me, Malak?" she questioned, breathing heavily. "You are a fool."

The fallen Jedi leaned in close to her, so close that she could smell his breath, if he had any. "Torture?" he repeated. "No, dear Bastila, you misunderstand. This is but a taste of the dark side…" He brought up his left hand, running his cold, scarred fingers along the line of her jaw. "…to whet your appetite."

He pulled away from her, turning and walking forward several paces, his hands clasped together over his shoulder cloak. "When you finally swear loyalty to me, it will be willingly." He spun around again, whipping his cloak behind him, and waited.

"Never," Bastila hissed, eyes narrowed menacingly.

Malak laughed, the harsh electronic sound painful to her ears. "Such resolve in your words!" he said mockingly, then lowered his voice down to a range where it would vibrate rocks and tabletops. "But I see the truth in your heart. The dark side calls to you, Bastila. You hunger to taste it."

Thunder echoed in the room as another charge built up, feeding its energy into Malak's black heart. Sparks of energy shot from the floodlights mounted around the room, overloading several of them in electrical discharges. Static shot across the raised hairs on the back of Bastila's neck. She knew this next hit would not be good.

"Become my apprentice," Malak continued, his electronic voice rasping painfully as the electrical current built, "and all its power can be yours!"

Finally, he released the charged energy within him, using both his hands to direct the overwhelmingly-powerful current of energy toward his captive.

Her shrieks echoed throughout the entire temple.

---

Apparently, some of the Sith he had allowed to live in the academy had called ahead to the valley, and they were all waiting for him. It didn't matter; they could not stand against his power.

A flourish of his lightsaber blade cleanly beheaded the guard on his right as he came out from under a column and entered the valley proper. As the other one lifted his blaster, Kagi ran at him, stepped up onto the guard's chest, executed a midair somersault, and landed on the ground behind the guard, facing him, and driving his lightsaber through the guard's back.

Letting the dead Sith slide off his lightsaber blade, Kagi straightened up and turned toward the pair of patrol guards running at him, blasters spitting hot fire. His lightsaber arced through the air before him, leaving glowing trails where it passed, and bouncing the fire of the leftmost guard back at him. The guard collapsed bonelessly.

His stance shifted slightly, and the other guard's bolts were all deflected harmlessly away, save for one stray bolt that shot directly into the back of the head of a Sith student kneeling in a pile of dirt outside the first tomb on his right. As that Sith collapsed, Kagi grabbed the guard in the Force and sent him flying back into one of the pillars in the center of the valley, shattering his spine on impact.

There were six Sith archaeologists in the area, and none of them felt very much like taking on a Jedi that had slaughtered five of their comrades in less than that many seconds. The two nearest him turned to run toward the far end of the valley. Kagi wouldn't have that.

With a gesture of his left hand, a damaged pillar's base shattered, sending the multi-ton stone object crashing down right on the heads of the archaeologists. Before the thing had even hit, Kagi was striding forward, right down the row of pillars, heading toward the tomb of Naga Sadow.

Another of the archaeologists broke from a pillar he was about to pass, trying to make a run for it. A gentle swipe of the lightsaber opened a gaping slash down the woman's right side, depositing her on the dusty ground with a mortal injury.

Kagi spun in midstride and swung his glowing blade, reflecting a blaster bolt back into the gut of the archaeologist who had fired the appropriated weapon. Without even a glance in the fool's direction, the Jedi turned back to his original course and continued walking.

As he came within sight of the tomb he was searching for, he saw another archaeologist scrambling over a fallen pillar, trying to get as far away from the deranged Jedi as he could. Kagi's eyes fell on a digger's pick laying discarded in the dirt nearby. With a flick of his left hand, the archaeologist pitched onto his face, the pick protruding from the base of his skull.

Kagi leapt up, flipping in midair, and landed on the far side of the downed pillar, spinning in place to find the last archaeologist cowering in the dirt before him. "No!" the pitiful Sith cried. "Please, don't kill me! I'll give you whatever you want! I swear loy–"

The cerulean blade of Kagi's lightsaber crashing against the whimpering fool's collarbone abruptly cut off his pathetic cries for mercy.

Turning away, Kagi strolled the last few meters to the tomb entrance and lifted his left hand, expecting its doors to curl away as had the doors of the Sith academy. No such good news. The Jedi scowled.

Suddenly, his arms shot up of their own accord, bringing the lightsaber back over his head to intercept another such blade aiming for his backside. For a few moments, the crackling of energy blades against one another filled the pervading silence of the valley, then he applied a force of strength and pushed back his assailant, spinning in place with his lightsaber out before him, prepared to defend himself.

He found himself face-to-face with the blonde woman he had encountered inside the colony, Lashowe, if he remembered correctly. It was her red-bladed lightsaber that had failed to take a chunk out of his back. "Didn't I tell you before?" he commented off-hand. "You could try to kill me, but you would fail."

She scoffed, bringing her lightsaber up into a standard defensive position. "Save it, Jedi scum. You're no match for the Sith."

Underneath the hood, Kagi smiled cruelly. "Well then, if you are so anxious to die, I have no choice but to oblige you."

He brought his lightsaber up, spinning it once in the air to confuse her as to where he would attack from, then struck from his left, a hard blow that would decapitate her if she didn't block it.

But her red blade rose into position, blocking the strike with some small measure of skill. She slid her blade down toward the ground, pushing his away from her, and then slipped under it, striking fast toward his left side.

Without considerably moving, he brought his own weapon down, blue meeting red a full foot from his side. With the strength of just his right hand, he shoved her blade out of line and tapped her left upper arm with his energy blade, gouging out a chunk of flesh and melting away a matching segment of her uniform.

She let out a startled cry and retreated several steps, letting go of the lightsaber with her right hand to press it over the wound. Her fingers came away bloody; the contact between lightsaber and flesh hadn't been long enough to cauterize. She glared lasers at him as she wiped the blood off on her pants leg and resumed her two-handed grip on the lightsaber.

"You have some skill with the lightsaber," Kagi remarked honestly. "But not enough. You can see that you're out of your league. Back down now, and I'll let you live."

"Out of my league?" she mocked. "I don't think so."

She let go of the lightsaber with her right hand again, this time pointing her hand toward Kagi as if it were a blaster. Bolts of lightning shot out of her fingertips, arching across the space toward the Jedi.

But before any of them could touch him, he simply brought up his lightsaber into their path, the blade absorbing the energy of the bolts. "Useless trick, girl. I've seen it all before. Hell, I _wrote_ the book on all your Sith tricks."

"Just who do you think you are?" Lashowe snarled.

"It's not who I think I am," Kagi calmly replied, lowering his blade to his side again. "It's who I _know_ I am. You know who I am too, even though you've only heard stories about me."

Confusion crossed her expression, just for a moment, but he knew she wouldn't venture a guess.

"I am Revan," he said calmly, and gave her just enough time for the shock to register.

Before she could say or do anything, he sent a powerful Force blast into her mind, stunning her temporarily. But it would be long enough. He deactivated his lightsaber and returned it to his belt, then reached out with both hands toward one of the monstrous statues out in the lower valley. He got a strong grip on it in the Force, and pulled for all that he was worth.

With a tremendously-loud cracking sound that could be heard all the way back to the _Ebon Hawk_, the statue broke free of its base, and fell toward them. Lashowe shook off the mental paralysis just in time to see the shadow falling over her, just in time to see the falling statue, and meekly raise her hands in a futile effort to ward it off.

Then, with a boom that shook the ground, the statue hit the ground, crushing them beneath it. Or, at least, crushing Lashowe beneath it. The section of the statue that would have crushed Kagi had fractured in two places, allowing the pieces above and below it to hit the ground as normal. But the part that would have crushed him hovered benignly in the air, held aloft by his power over the Force.

Kagi turned toward the tomb of Naga Sadow, and reared back both arms. With a forward gesture, the heavy section of statue soared forward, smashing into the wall of the tomb and shattering it inward.

Pulling his lightsaber off his belt, Kagi spun it once to properly orient it, then snapped it on and leapt high into the air, through the hole he had created.

---

Malak watched with perverse amusement as the last vestigial energy streamers from the Force lightning played across Bastila's exhausted form. Her body slumped against the pillar he had bound her to, unable to support her weight any longer.

With a gesture, the chains binding her snapped, allowing her to fall flat onto the floor. Two of Malak's dark Jedi immediately moved to her side, picking her up and giving her _just_ enough of a kolto injection that she could support her own weight. Then they retreated from the chamber.

Of her own accord, Bastila fell to her knees at Malak's feet, supporting herself with her hands planted against the stone floor. She did not lift her eyes to meet his. Good.

"I…" she breathed, struggling to drag the words out of her. "I pledge…myself… to your teachings…"

"Very good," Malak said smugly.

"I will… I will do whatever you… ask…" she said, swaying wearily in place.

"You are fulfilling your destiny," Malak told her.

"Just…please…"

Face twisting in anger, the Sith lord backhanded her, sending her sprawling to the deck. "You dare to ask deals of me?"

Spinning on his heel, Malak stormed out of the chamber, leaving Bastila collapsed on the floor.

Lying there, weak, unable to move on her own, Bastila curled in on herself as best she could, weakly wrapping her arms around herself as more tears rose, unbidden.

_Kagi, please forgive me. I am doing this for your sake…_

---

…_please forgive me…_

Deep down inside Kagi, something broke. Just like when he had been ready to tear the face off of Carth after they had escaped the _Leviathan_, all the darkness and rage in his body fled as though a bright light had been shone on his soul.

It was Bastila. Something had happened to Bastila, something powerful enough to break through the barricade of their Force bond. He didn't know what had happened to her, but he knew it was safe to assume it had been something bad.

Shaking his head to clear it, Kagi leaned forward and stared into his reflection on the datapad screen he was using to record the galactic coordinates of the Star Forge. Nothing wrong with his face or eyes. Unnerved, he finished recording the coordinates, then activated his comlink.

"Carth? Kagi here. I've got the last Star Map. Time to get out of here. Take off and meet me near the lower cliff face of the Valley of the Dark Lords."

"_You got it, Kagi,"_ the soldier answered. _"I'll pick up Canderous on the way and meet you out there."_

The comlink beeped, indicating that the channel had been closed.

Pocketing the datapad, Kagi turned and picked his way back up to the surface, climbing over the section of broken statue, and out through the hole he had bashed into the tomb.

As he emerged back out into daylight, the _Ebon Hawk_ was hovering a meter or so above the protruding edge of the statue he had hurled, its boarding ramp extended. Securing all of his belongings, Kagi leapt across the open space, and into the freighter. As soon as he was aboard, the ramp rose behind him, and the ship made for space.

Inside, Kagi made his way directly to the cockpit, settling himself in the copilot's seat. Once fully seated, he sagged wearily, trying to expel the memory of all that he had done on Korriban's surface. He knew he had taken a trip into the dark side, and that it had taken Bastila's suffering to bring him out. He would not allow that to happen to him again.

"You've got the coordinates, Kagi?" Carth asked as the _Hawk_ left the atmosphere, sailing into the silent void of space.

"Yeah," the Jedi replied automatically, handing over the datapad. He blinked, then looked over at the pilot. "We need to talk, Carth. About me being Revan."

Carth froze halfway through entering the coordinates in the navicomputer, and looked over at the Jedi's troubled expression. Slowly, he nodded. "If you're ready to talk then yes, so am I."

"And?"

"I can't hate you," Carth said, sighing as he flopped back into his seat and stared out at the vista of stars. "I tried…" he admitted. "I tried to hold you responsible for all the things you've done. For my wife, for Telos, for Dustil. But I can't."

"I'm glad to hear that," Kagi said tiredly, nodding. He felt like he'd gone ten rounds with a rancor.

"I got the revenge I always wanted when Saul died," Carth continued. He obviously wanted to get this off his chest, so Kagi did nothing to hinder him. "But it hasn't brought me the peace that I thought it would. Despite whatever part of Revan is inside you, the… the darkness that must surely be there, it isn't who _you_ are."

Carth sighed again, and rubbed his temples slowly. "That's why I can't hate you, why I don't want any more revenge. You don't have to be Revan, you can be so much more. Whatever the Jedi did to you, they gave you that chance."

_Yes,_ Kagi mused to himself, _but I almost threw that chance away and became the dark lord again. It was Bastila's suffering that brought me back. I must not let her continue to suffer. We _have_ to go save her!_

"Whatever's happened up until this point, there's going to come a time very soon where you're going to have to make a choice. And there won't be any turning back."

Kagi nodded. He knew this as well. But for Carth's sake, for the sake of Bastila, he had to face that time with steadfast determination. "And if I make the wrong choice?" he ventured.

"Well then I hope I can save you," Carth replied. "From yourself." The computer console in front of them beeped, and Carth leaned forward to check it. "Okay, the coordinates check out and we've got a hyperspace course laid in." He looked up at the Jedi. "You ready to go save your sweetheart?"

"As of two days ago," Kagi replied with a nod. "Punch it."

The _Ebon Hawk_'s engines flared, hurtling the ship into hyperspace, on toward destiny…

* * *

**A/N:** Yeah people, I realize that I totally butchered the mission to Korriban, but think about it. Which one is more fun? Running around playing gopher for the Sith, or killing them all and cutting a bloody swath across the planet? XD 


	5. Interlude V: Fatal Fight

The difference between the stale air of the ancient temple and the relatively fresh air of the open summit hit Kagi the moment he stepped out onto the plaza. He squinted into the bright sunlight, while Jolee shaded his eyes with one hand. Juhani's eyes, on the other hand, adapted more quickly than the humans', and she quickly recognized the figure standing before them in the shade of a pillar.

"Bastila!" she called, and ran forward to greet the missing Jedi.

As she moved, something sharp drove itself into Kagi's mind, and he reached out a hand toward Juhani. "No, wait!"

Too late. A sudden surge through the Force, and Juhani was instantly flying through the air toward Bastila as an all-too-familiar _snap-hiss_ sound came from the lightsaber handle in her hand.

And then, to the horror of both Jolee and Kagi, the red blade of the lightsaber appeared, protruding through Juhani's back. Just as quickly, the blade retreated back into the lightsaber, and another surge in the Force sent Juhani flying back against the near wall.

For several long moments, no one moved.

"Revan," Bastila said suddenly, breaking the silence. "I knew you'd come for me. Malak thought you might be too afraid to enter the temple again, but he doesn't know you like I do. Not since you've changed."

"Bastila, don't do this," Jolee said, his hands tightening around the grip of his lightsaber. "Come back with us, before Malak returns."

"Escape?" she asked, a mocking tone in her voice. "You don't understand. I have sworn allegiance to Lord Malak and the Sith. I am no longer a pawn of the Jedi Council."

He knew. He had felt it through their Force bond. The darkness that corrupted her. The same darkness that had held him in its grasp, until she had pulled him from it. His hands tightened until his knuckles turned white, until his arms trembled with the feedback energy built up.

A little voice inside him, the leftover darkness from his days as Darth Revan, welled up and whispered into his ear. _She has betrayed you, Revan. Betrayed your love for her and gone to your enemy. Make her pay for it, Revan. Give her pain to match your own pain!_

He closed his eyes tightly against the voice, willing it back down into the depths of his mind. In the wake of its departure, a cooling tranquility washed over him, steeling his resolve, steadying his shaking hands, and loosening the grip of rage upon his mind.

"Don't do this, Bastila," he said quietly, barely beating out the breeze swirling around the temple summit. "Don't turn to the dark side."

A cruel smile twisted her lips as she turned her eyes to him. "You say that as if the dark side is some terrible entity. The Jedi Council has brainwashed you like all the others. Like they once did with me. They speak of the dark side as if it is something to be feared. But in reality their only goal is to manipulate those who are strong in the Force. The fear of the dark side is a tool to maintain control."

She turned away from him then, stalking a few paces away, then turning, and recovering those steps, inspecting the handle of her lightsaber as she did so. "Why do you think they forbade you and Malak from joining the Mandalorian Wars? They knew you would realize your true potential and break free of their domination. Malak has shown me how the Jedi Council have been using me the same way they once tried to use you. They were holding me back because they knew some day I would surpass them all."

Ignoring her words, he reached into her mind, stretching along the Force bond they shared. He could feel her rising up her mental barriers to try to shut him out, and he allowed her to block him for the time being.

"It isn't too late, Bastila. Come back to the light."

She paused, as if surprised she had resisted him so easily. "I…resisted at first," she said hesitantly. "I endured the Sith torments with the passionless serenity of a true Jedi, emptying my mind. But after a week of endless tortures I finally saw the truth. Malak forced me to acknowledge my anger and pain. He showed me the liberating power of those emotions. Then he made me see how the Jedi Council has denied me what is mine by right!"

Unbridled anger rose in her voice, and she clenched her free hand into a fist. "The Jedi Council gladly used my Battle Meditation in their wars, but they still treated me like an inferior – like a child! They were jealous of my power, of what I could become." Her tone became spiteful and she laughed, a cruel, hard sound. "They wanted me to bow and call them Master and follow their Code and obey their every order. But all the while they were exploiting my Battle Meditation for their own use."

Once again, he attempted to probe her mind, this time directly, not along their bond. And again, she put up barriers that he could have broken on the worst day of his life. But once more, he allowed her to believe she had bested him.

"Fight it, Bastila. You're stronger than this. I will help you."

"You are a sad little fool," she said condescendingly, and laughed again. "You speak as if I were the same Bastila that you've known all along. But freed from the control of the Jedi Council, I have become much, much more. I almost wish you could see things as I do now. I wish you could join me and taste true power once again. Sadly, I doubt you are even capable any longer."

She took a deep breath, lowering her eyes to the ground. When she lifted them again and met eyes with Kagi, something animalistic lurked behind them. But where other men would've withdrawn a step, he simply stood his ground, and let her read the emotions in _his_ eyes. The betrayal, the anger, and, ultimately, the pain.

Something in her gaze faltered.

"With the power of the Star Forge Malak will destroy the Republic and conquer the galaxy," she said, turning her back to them and sweeping her left arm out in a grand motion, as though taking in the entire galaxy in that one sweep. "And I will be the apprentice at his side. After I prove my worth by killing you!"

He sighed. With his right hand, he reached over and pulled his lightsaber from its station over his left hip, then held it out and to his right, angled behind him. "I will do what I must."

"You will _try_," she mocked.

Behind her, the _snap-hiss_ shattered the silence as his blue blade erupted from the hilt clasped in his hand. In a single move, she activated both red blades of her lightsaber and leapt up, spinning in midair to come down at him with her blades swinging for his head.

In an instant, his blade came up, intercepting the blow of her red blade from his left, then sliding to his right to counter her second attack from that side. He shoved her blade away with his, ducked beneath the other blade as she turned the momentum into a full rotation.

She continued the spin until she was several meters distant from him, the double-bladed lightsaber held behind her in her right hand, her left hand before her in a gesture of invitation. A sadistic pleasure twisted her otherwise beautiful features into a mockery.

Spinning his lightsaber around his hand, the man formerly known as Revan looked upon Bastila and sighed, shaking his head slowly. He closed his eyes and thought all the way back to Manaan, just before she had admitted her feelings for him, when she had confided in him that she was afraid of falling to the dark side, and he had sworn that he would keep her from falling.

He opened his eyes and focused on her features, twisted with hate. With sadness, he looked into her sickly yellow eyes, boring deep into his own soul. "I have failed you, Bastila," he said, sorrow pulling at every word. "I have failed you."

A cruel smile appeared on her face, and he knew right away she had been digging at his memories as well. "You have failed only yourself. There is nothing I desire. The dark side has been my path to power. I have everything I could ever wan't."

"No, you don't," he answered. "There is one thing you do not have." _Me._

Steeling himself within the Force, he spun his lightsaber once more and attacked, rushing directly at the dark Jedi. Surprise registered on her face as she realized that his mind was completely closed to her now, and she took several hurried steps back, swinging her lightsaber around in front of her to intercept his glowing azure blade, just inches from her face.

Jolee swung around behind her, bringing his glowing emerald blade toward her unprotected backside. Snarling, Bastila pushed Kagi away from her with brute strength…or had he intentionally stepped away to allow her to defend herself? No matter. She spun around, intercepting Jolee's attack with her blade.

Almost immediately, she stepped halfway around and brought her right blade down hard, knocking away Kagi's snapping blade at the same time the other half of her lightsaber's arc forced Jolee to duck or lose his head. Holding her lightsaber in place, she spun her body around into a spin-kick aimed at Jolee. The heel of her boot impacted solidly against the retired Jedi, spinning him away unconscious.

While she was distracted, Kagi doubled the amount of force he was applying against her lightsaber, intending to throw her off-balance, but she simply turned the momentum into a midair rotation to land gracefully on her feet and charge right back at him.

His lightsaber was ready, intercepting hers inches from his face, and forcing it back toward her. Now their faces were mere inches apart, their crimson and cerulean blades clashing brilliantly between them.

"You are stronger than I would've thought possible after what the Jedi Council did to you," Bastila said, struggling to bend him over backwards and defeat him in their saberlock. "Seems that Malak was wrong; the power of the dark side is not lost to you after all, Revan."

A surge of strength powered by something not of the Force pushed them back to the equal lock positions. "Do not call me that," he hissed, inches from her. "I am not Revan anymore."

"You can deny what you are, Revan, but you are only fooling yourself," she coolly answered. "I know the truth. I have seen the shadows inside your mind. Remember, I was there when you nearly died in the trap set by the Jedi Council!"

She suddenly broke contact, expecting him to stumble and leave her an opening. Instead, he shifted his weight around to the left, swinging his lightsaber horizontally toward her side. Hers flashed down, blocking his, but he suddenly shoved against her with a massive surge of strength, bringing their lightsabers up and over until his was on top.

Releasing his grip on the lightsaber with his left hand, he formed it into a fist and shot it up into her face, rocking her back several steps. She shook her head once to clear it, then readied her lightsaber again before her. "We are forever linked by my actions on that bridge."

Spinning the lightsaber in his grip, he brought the weapon up over his head, angling it until it was pointed directly toward the ground, held protectively before him. It was an awkward guard; one few had ever mastered. He had. "Yes, Bastila. That link is how I know of the light still in you. You _will_ return to us!"

"These are not your true feelings, Revan," she said, almost sympathetically.

He could feel her probing his mind across their link. This time, he opened all his mental barriers, allowing her to dig deep and read that they were, in fact, his feelings.

She hesitated slightly, her own lies now caught out in the open between them. But then her expression hardened again. "You are speaking as a tool of the Jedi Council, as I once did," she said, attempting to break him with her words. Deep down, though, she knew that it was an impossible quest. "But now I see how the Jedi used us both."

A current of anger shot beneath her words, and pure hate swelled up in her eyes. "The Council tried to exploit the bond between us," she spat angrily, perhaps moreso than she should have. She was dimly aware that he would find the hidden meaning behind her words. He always had. She forced herself past those thoughts, clung to the anger and hate. "They hoped I would draw out your memories to lead them to the Star Forge. We were slaves to their will, like all who follow the Jedi Code!"

She studied the guard stance he was in, looking for a weakness in it. "But in our shared visions of the Star Maps, I also felt the so-called taint within you. But now I embrace the power of the dark side; _your_ dark side!"

He scoffed from behind his daring guard, shaking his head ruefully. "You should have learned from all that you found in my mind, Bastila. My mistakes. Come back from the dark side."

"Mistakes?" she spat contemptfully. "No, Revan, the only mistake you are making is the one you are making now. You deny yourself the power that is yours by right. Only now do I realize how strong you are. _You_ deserve to be the true Master of the Sith, not Malak. I see this now. Together we can destroy your old apprentice. Join me and reclaim your lost identity."

"I am not Revan anymore," he answered, his voice as hard as vacuum-forged durasteel. "Those days are lost to me now, and willfully so."

"Your mind was too badly damaged to ever fully restore your memories, Revan," she said, sadness creeping through her voice. "But your power, your strength of will, the essence of who and what you are; these things still remain!"

She glanced to his right, behind him, where Jolee was beginning to stir. If she was going to convince him to side with her, she'd better hurry. She tried something else. "Once, long ago, you defied the Jedi Council, freeing yourself from their control. You claimed your rightful title of Dark Lord of the Sith. Together we can defeat Malak and take back what is yours!"

"What I want from Malak is that which he stole from me," he answered, shifting into a more traditional guard and stepping back to bring Jolee into his vision.

"Yes, yes, your title of Dark Lord!" Bastila said eagerly.

"No!" he shouted. "I do not care about the Dark Lord or the Sith! If Malak wants to fancy himself as the baddest ass in the galaxy, that is _his_ concern, not mine! Malak stole something from me far more important than any title or name. He stole you!"

Those words struck something deep inside her, some vestige of the noble Jedi that was still inside her. She paused, lowering her lightsaber, staring dumbfounded at him.

Standing up groggily, Jolee turned his attention to Bastila. "Bastila, it is not too late for you to be saved. The teachings of the Jedi can lead you back from the dark side."

At his words, Bastila's expression hardened again, and she turned a hateful glare on him. "You are _beneath_ my contempt, Jolee. You touched the dark side and fled to the bowels of Kashyyyk like some cowering animal. You know nothing of the Force or its true potential!" She turned back to Kagi, holding her hand out in invitation. "But _you_, Revan. The power of the dark side is yours to command. You can use it to destroy Malak. With my help, you could rule over the entire galaxy!"

"I don't want the galaxy, Bastila. It's nothing but space dust and cosmic matter to me, without you. _You_ are what I want. The rest of the galaxy can go to blazes for all I care."

"You are a pathetic fool, Revan," she snarled. "Together we could have defeated Malak and ruled over an Empire, but now _I_ will be at Lord Malak's side instead. You will be crushed with the Republic and all the fools who bow down to the Jedi Council. No one can stand against the power of the Star Forge and the Sith fleet!"

With that, she spun around and ran back through the pillar, toward the ship on the landing platform beyond. Bringing up his lightsaber, Kagi followed her. But as soon as he cleared the doorway, automatic turrets on the ship swiveled down and opened fire on him, forcing him to duck back and reflect the bolts with his lightsaber. Underneath their cover fire, Bastila boarded the ship and sealed the hatch behind her.

Mere moments later, her ship rose on its repulsors and fled back toward space, toward the Star Forge.

Watching her ship vanish into the darkness of space, a sharp knife of pain stabbed itself into Kagi's heart. Finally, he forced himself to tear his eyes away from the tiny speck of light and deactivate his lightsaber.

Behind him, he could hear Jolee do the same, and move toward Juhani. He moved toward the ancient computer console, burned by several of his reflected bolts, and accessed it. Two options appeared on the screen, one to shut down the disruptor field, and one to shut down the temple's shields. He activated them both, in tandem, and listened as the omnipresent hum of the temple shields died out.

As he turned away, his comlink beeped, and he pulled it out. _"Carth here. We've got the new parts installed into the Hawk and she's ready to fly. Shall we come pick you up?"_

"Yes, and make it fast, Carth. Juhani's hurt badly, so have the med bay ready. Then get ready to make for space. We have a date with the Forge."

* * *

**A/N:** I just noticed, as I played through another game of KOTOR, that I had picked up the bug that fucked up the Bastila romance dialogue during the playthrough I'd used to write this chapter originally. So I re-edited some parts of the text to put the actual romance dialogue back in, with artistic licensing applied, of course.  



	6. Interlude VI: The Trap

"The Republic fleet must have gotten the message I sent as we were crashing into that planet," Carth said, hunched over the holoprojector plate in the middle of the _Ebon Hawk_'s main bay. "I'm picking up a transmission now."

The holoprojector suddenly became active, washing into existence the form of a Republic fleet officer. _"This is Admiral Forn Dodonna to the _Ebon Hawk_. Do you read us?"_

"Admiral Dodonna, this is Carth Onasi," Carth answered, clasping his hands behind his back. "We are receiving your transmission."

"_Carth, I'm glad to see you're still alive,"_ the holographic admiral said. _"We've begun our assault on the Star Forge, but we're taking heavy losses. How did the Sith ever manage to build something of this scope?"_

"The Star Forge wasn't constructed by the Sith, Admiral," Carth replied. "We don't have time for me to fully explain it, but that space station is far older than you can imagine."

Through the holographic field of the communications device, Carth saw Kagi turn away, heading toward his crew cabin. He idly wondered where the Jedi was going, but decided he didn't need to know.

"_Maybe we should pull the fleet back and retreat,"_ the admiral said. _"I don't know if we have the firepower to go up against this alien technology."_

"You can't do that, Admiral," Carth replied, shaking his head. "The Star Forge is a factory of immense power. It's been churning out the capital ships, snubfighters, and assault droids that have powered the Sith war effort. You _have_ to destroy the Star Forge now, or you'll be fighting an unending wave of reinforcements."

"_Then I guess we have no choice. But it isn't going to be easy. I can't even get our capital ships into position to start bombarding the Star Forge. The Sith fleet is too well-organized."_

As the admiral spoke, her holoimage compressed down and shifted to the side, replaced with a tactical holoprojection of the battle as it was unfolding. Carth recognized right away that the Sith fleet had set up a perfect picket line around the Star Forge capable of hammering the Republic lines, and crippling any ships that tried to strike out solo at the Forge.

"_It's like they can guess our every move, and counter our every strategy."_

Carth swore, hammering his fist against the projection plate. "It's because of Bastila, Admiral. She's turned to the dark side and become Malak's apprentice. We suspect she's somewhere on that space station right now. Using her battle meditation against you and your fleet."

The miniature holoprojection of the admiral turned to the side and nodded, and her holo expanded to full size again, before she stepped to the side of the transmission field, motioning for another figure to join her.

"_This is Master Vandar,"_ she said, as the miniscule, large-eared Jedi Master stepped into the transmission field. _"A number of Jedi Knights have joined our fleet under his command."_

"_If Bastila is using her power to augment the Sith, then Malak's fleet is invincible,"_ Vandar said gravely, mincing no words. _"Our only hope is to somehow stop Bastila from using her Battle Meditation."_

"_How can we do that if she's on the space station?"_ Admiral Dodonna asked.

"_I will send a squadron of Jedi Knights to the Star Forge to find Bastila,"_ Vandar replied coolly. _"Their small ships will be able to fly through the Sith blockade and dock on the space station. If they can find Bastila, they may be able to distract her attention from the battle overhead."_ The diminutive Jedi looked up at the Republic admiral beside him. _"That should allow you to move your capital ships into position for a final assault on the Star Forge itself."_

"With Bastila still on it," Carth said.

Vandar turned his attention to the Republic soldier, meeting eyes with the man from across the reaches of space. _"Optimistically, the Jedi strike team should be able to capture her and return her to us. But keep one thing clear, Captain Onasi. Destroy the Sith, we must."_

"Kagi's not going to like that idea," Jolee muttered to himself.

"_I hate to ask this after all you've done, Carth,"_ Admiral Dodonna said, _"but the Jedi may need all the help they can get…"_

"Don't worry, Admiral," Carth said with a nod. "The only way you could keep the _Ebon Hawk_ and her crew off that Star Forge would be to blow us out of space."

"_And may the Force be with you,"_ Vandar said, nodding to the soldier as the holoprojection faded out of existence.

Once the transmission had ended, Carth immediately made his way toward the cockpit of the _Ebon Hawk_. "Canderous, I'll need your help flying the ship into the Forge. Jolee, do me a favor and go see what Kagi's up to. The rest of you, get ready for a bumpy ride."

As the crew dispersed to prepare themselves for what they hoped would be the last confrontation, Jolee turned and strode through the ship's corridors, toward the starboard crew cabin.

The aged Jedi entered the cabin just as a blue flare of light flashed from the handle of the lightsaber that Kagi had been using up until this point. "Now is there any reason why you just destroyed the energy couplings of that lightsaber?" he asked.

Casting aside the ruined lightsaber, Kagi picked up the one he had been constructing, and began welding sections of the disassembled neural disruptor onto the securing collar around the activation plate. "I know you know about Korriban, Jolee," he said quietly. "About what happened to me there."

"I know you came _back_ from the darkness, Kagi," the old man replied, crossing his arms. "That's the important part. That you did it is irrelevant; that you came back from it is what mattered. But that still doesn't answer my question, damn it! Why'd you break that lightsaber?"

"I took that lightsaber with me to the dark side," Kagi answered, welding the last seal between sections of the disruptor. "It would forever be tainted by the darkness. Besides, I have my new one to use." He picked up the last piece of the neural disruptor, and slid it neatly beneath the overhanging strips of metal to cover the activation trigger.

Standing up, the young Jedi tapped his thumb against the activation plate, and a brilliant amethyst blade of energy leapt out of the weapon's emitter. Kagi swung it a few times, testingly, then thumbed the activation plate again, then hooked the lightsaber to his belt where the old one had been stored.

"I'm ready for anything, now," he said quietly.

---

At maximum acceleration, the _Ebon Hawk_ shot between the capital ships of the Sith picket, ducking and dodging to avoid the heavy turbolaser blasts from the antiship weaponry. In mere moments, the light freighter had cleared the blockade, and began its run on the Star Forge itself.

A quartet of Jedi starfighters formed up around the _Ebon Hawk_, creating a diamond formation around the larger ship as they approached the Sith weapons factory. As they got within two kilometers, the Star Forge's own turbolaser batteries opened up, filling space around them with bolts of red energy and golden flashes from near misses.

The ships spread out as they came closer to the Forge, providing plenty of space for the vessels to juke and dodge out of the way of incoming fire. Behind the _Hawk_, the Jedi starfighter at the rear of the formation intercepted a turbolaser bolt and exploded violently, scattering spinning chunks of shrapnel into space. Almost simultaneously, the first starfighter in the group flew into a turbolaser, detonating in the same manner.

But now, the _Ebon Hawk_ and the remaining two Jedi ships were beneath the umbrella of the Star Forge's turbolaser batteries, and the three ships split apart to land in different docking bays. Firing her landing jets, the _Ebon Hawk_ lowered her landing gear and settled hard to the deck of the landing bay, the under-belly autoturret gun sweeping the area for any hostiles.

The crew once again convened in the main lounge, mentally preparing themselves for what was to come. "HK, Mission, Zaalbar, I want you three to stay behind and defend the ship," Kagi said. He looked from one comrade to another, gauging their expressions. HK's expression was no different than it always was. Mission looked a little scared, and Zaalbar's furry features were fiercely determined.

"Jolee, Juhani, I want you two to join up with the Jedi that made it onto the Forge. Distract the Sith forces, scatter them, do whatever you must, but I want you occupying all of the enemy's attention."

The two Jedi nodded, determination mixed with dispassioned serenity on their faces.

"Carth, keep the engines running. Once Malak goes down, we're going to have to get off this ship in a hurry. Canderous, you're with me. We get to break things."

"Now _that's_ my kind of assignment," the Mandalorian replied, his face hidden under the helmet he wore.

As the quartet exited the ship, they were greeted by three of the Jedi that had survived the boarding attempt. "You made it," she said, relief evident on her features and in her voice. "Several of the Jedi have already gone ahead into the Star Forge. We have to strike now while we still have the element of surprise. If we don't stop Bastila from using her Battle Meditation, the Republic fleet will be lost."

Kagi nodded. "Leave Bastila to me. I need you and the rest of the Jedi to run interference for me. Delay the Sith, sabotage them, whatever you have to do. I want their attention on you, not me."

The Jedi nodded, then turned to her fellows. "Come on, before they–"

Too late. From the far side of the landing bay, a door deeper into the Star Forge opened, expelling a handful of dark Jedi. Lightsabers blazing, the Sith defenders rushed out to meet the invaders.

The Jedi task force leader swore. "So much for catching them unprepared. Let's go!"

The three Jedi, as well as Jolee and Juhani, activated their lightsabers, running toward the Sith interlopers. "For the Republic!" one of the Jedi cried.

Behind them, the belly gun of the _Ebon Hawk_ opened up, providing cover fire for the Jedi as well as keeping down the heads of any Sith reinforcements waiting in the wings.

One of the dark Jedi broke free from the fierce melee, charging directly for Kagi and Canderous. With his left hand, the Jedi Knight seized the Sith warrior in the Force and threw him directly into a burst of blasterfire from the _Hawk_'s gun.

Then he and Canderous were on their way, charging deeper into the Star Forge.

---

In another part of the Forge, a silver-armored Sith Master approached Malak. "Lord Malak, a team of Jedi have penetrated our defenses. Their fighters have landed on the Star Forge."

"This is not unexpected," Malak replied, unconcerned. "The Jedi are formidable opponents. Send the Forge's battle droids to deal with them."

The Sith Master blinked in confusion. Mere droids? Against Jedi? "L-Lord Malak, forgive me… but how can mere droids be a match for Jedi?"

"You underestimate the power of the Forge's droid army," Malak hissed. "Dispatch the droids."

"Of course, Lord Malak."

---

Kagi's violet lightsaber blade arced up, severing the left arm of a Sith trooper. Continuing his forward motion, he fluidly curved the blade down to his left, then back up again, severing the trooper's right arm. He took another step forward, pivoting to the right on his left foot to turn his back to the unarmed trooper, then drove the blade of his lightsaber into the man's chest.

As he withdrew the glowing blade from the dead soldier, the two doors on either side of the catwalk leading deeper into the Forge exploded inward, disgorging a pair of battle droids each.

"Battle droids!" Canderous warned, leveling his heavy repeater. "Take 'em down!"

The Mandalorian warrior focused on the droids coming from the left, taking shelter behind a power conduit and leaning out to unleash a hailstorm of blasterfire on the droids their, collapsing their shields in an instant.

Kagi took the ones on the right, his lightsaber arcing and dancing before him to deflect their blaster bolts. One ricochet bolt struck home, burning into the 'head' of the leftmost droid and pitching it backwards off the catwalk. As its comrade turned to see its fate, Kagi charged himself up with the Force, burst forward at inhuman speed, and swung his lightsaber like a baseball bat, cleaving through the midsection of the droid with enough force to shatter durasteel.

The Jedi looked behind him, in time to see a thermal detonator explode at the feet of the remaining droid on Canderous' side, utterly shattering the droid as well as blowing away the catwalk in that direction. The Mandalorian turned, shrugging sheepishly at his companion.

Kagi shrugged as well, and jerked his left thumb in the direction his droids had come from. "Guess we're going that way."

The pair turned to the right, heading toward the next door. As Canderous approached it with an explosive charge, prepared to blow it open, Kagi suddenly shot out his left hand, seizing the Mandalorian in the Force and pulling him back toward him. And not a moment too soon.

The door they'd been approaching exploded violently, sending chunks of durasteel flying in their direction. Hastily erecting a Force shield, Kagi deflected the largest chunks away from them, as well as stopped cold the blaster bolts fired by the two droids ambushing them.

Moving forward, the duo responded to the attack as a single entity, Kagi's lightsaber shattering the face of the droid on the left as Canderous' overhead smash bore the second droid to the ground, where a burst of blasterfire finished it.

Nodding to one another, the pair continued onward, turning left where the catwalk turned deeper into the Forge. At the next door, wary of the ambush they had faced at the last one, the pair stopped, allowing Kagi to pull the doors open with the Force.

No explosive surprises were waiting for them this time, but two droids were near the far door. The Mandalorian immediately opened fire on the right droid, peppering its armored shell with blaster bolts.

Once more, Kagi reached out his left hand to the droid on the left side, lifting it off the ground with the Force. This time, however, he tugged toward him in the Force, drawing his lightsaber back across his body as he did so. As the droid sailed into striking range, Kagi's lightsaber cut out, severing the head of the droid from the body. The Jedi calmly stepped to the side, allowing the two pieces of the battle droid to sail serenely past him.

As the Jedi moved forward, approaching the next door, a well-aimed burst of blasterfire mowed down the remaining droid, the explosion spraying hot metal ejecta onto Kagi.

Beyond the door, the catwalk curved around to the left, and Kagi could see the flashing lights and humming clashes of a lightsaber battle. He turned to Canderous and grinned. "Now the fun begins."

"Nothing gets my blood pumping like killing Jedi," the Mandalorian replied. At a glance from Kagi, he shrugged. "Well, Sith, Jedi, very little difference really."

Shrugging as well, Kagi spun his lightsaber around his hand and led the charge, effortlessly cutting down another pair of battle droids as he ran. But it was in vain. As the droids went down, he saw the first of the Jedi follow suit. The numbers game began working in the favor of the Sith.

Halfway to the battle, another Jedi fell. Then, as Kagi gathered the Force inside him and leapt from the catwalk he was on, with his lightsaber blade crashing down to cleave open a Sith warrior, the last Jedi went down, hard, a smoking hole in his gut.

As Kagi stood up, spinning his lightsaber again, he found himself surrounded by three dark Jedi. And then two, as a hail of blasterfire from Canderous burned down one of them, too busy focusing on Kagi to perceive the threat that the Mandalorian posed.

The second dark Jedi quickly spotted the Mandalorian, and turned to take him on. Unfortunately for him, that would carry the Sith warrior right past Kagi. The evil servant did not realize this until he had run completely through the Jedi's blade.

Smiling wickedly, the Jedi turned his attention to the last remaining dark Jedi. "And then there was one…"

Letting out a wordless scream of rage, the dark Jedi charged Kagi, swinging her blade around from her left, with the obvious intent of taking his head off. With genuine ease, the Jedi blocked the blow one-handed, then pushed her saber down toward the ground.

Spotting his opening, the Jedi's left hand shot forward, seizing the cloth of her tunic and shoving her backwards, knocking her off-balance, her lightsaber flailing to her right. His right boot came up, clapping the Sith in the side of the head, further reeling her. Kagi leapt up twisting his legs around her neck in a head-scissors vice, then rotating in midair to flip her over and slam her on the ground.

Landing nimbly on his feet, Kagi spun his lightsaber around his hand three times before bringing it up and slamming it down into the dark Jedi's chest. Then he pulled his lightsaber out and released it, the blade deactivating as it left contact with his hand. The hilt spun lazily in the air until he caught it, upright, and thumbed on the amethyst blade again.

"Impressive display," Canderous commented off-hand as he finally caught up to the rampaging Jedi. "It's no wonder you defeated us in the Mandalorian Wars, with moves like that."

Kagi waved it off light-heartedly. "Eh, it's just a couple things I picked up here and there."

The Mandalorian laughed. "Then I should travel to the places that _you've_ been too."

"Sounds like a plan," Kagi said with a nod. "Soon as we get done here. Let's go."

They turned and continued forward. Ahead of them, at a curve in the catwalk, two dark Jedi were waiting for them. The Sith warriors charged, lightsabers glowing fiercely. Changing his grip on his lightsaber, Kagi reared back and hurled the energy weapon like a spear, enhancing its speed and guidance with the Force.

A scant second later, the rightmost Sith collapsed to the catwalk, Kagi's lightsaber protruding from her chest. The other Sith, expecting Kagi to be easy pickings without his lightsaber, charged at him, lightsaber swinging.

But the Jedi spun in place, his motion slowed as though he were moving in water, and a powerful, visibly-blue wave of Force energy rippled off of him, smashing into the gut of the dark Jedi and sending her flying off the catwalk into the machinery built into the walls.

Retrieving his lightsaber from the chest of the dead Sith, Kagi led Canderous on, deeper into the Star Forge.

---

In the central construction pillar of the Star Forge, Malak watched as more and more Sith interceptors were being built by the massive construction devices in the depths of the factory. Fighters rose past him by the dozen, heading toward docking bays where they would exit and join the battle raging outside.

"Why have you disturbed me?" he asked of the approaching Sith Master.

"I have news, Lord Malak," the Sith responded hesitantly. "About the Jedi."

"Ah, the Jedi," Malak said, as though the man were talking to him about the weather on Hoth. "Did my droids pass their test? Did they destroy our enemies?"

"No, Lord Malak," the Sith answered defeatedly. "The droids could not stop them."

"Strange," the dark lord mused. "I did not think there were any among the Order who could survive an attack by an army of the Forge's battle droids."

"It…it was Revan, Lord Malak," the Sith Master stammered, as though afraid to utter the very name. "Your old master is with the Jedi, here on the Star Forge!"

"Yes… That would explain why the droids failed. Revan always was strong in the Force." Malak turned toward the Sith Master, clenching his right hand into a fist. "Very well, send out all available troops. The apprentices, as well."

"Do you really think that will stop him, Lord Malak?"

"Of course not! But they will slow him down, and that will give me the time I need to fully prepare the Star Forge's defenses. I am curious to see the extent of this space station's capabilities. One as powerful as my old master will make an interesting test subject."

With that, Malak turned and walked away, moving toward the Forge's control room.

---

Another massive explosion sent a trio of dead Sith troopers airborne near the central pillar. Blasterfire shot back and forth between the half-dozen still alive, and the section of wall that Kagi had torn down with the Force for Canderous to take cover behind.

The Jedi didn't even bother to watch the flying troopers, as he nimbly shunted a Sith apprentice's lightsaber into the path of another, then jumped up, rolled over the back of the first one to strike at him, and landed in a crouch behind them, sweeping his lightsaber back and cutting them both down at the kneecaps.

In the distance, he saw five more Sith apprentices coming at him. Jumping to his feet, he sent one of the troopers flying toward the first apprentice with the Force. The apprentice reacted instantly, swinging his lightsaber to cleave the trooper in half, but that moment of distraction was all Canderous needed to burn his face in with a hail of fire from his heavy repeating blaster.

Kagi leapt high over the falling apprentice, tucking into a roll upon impact with the ground. He slid past the next apprentice, his lightsaber lashing out and taking off the Sith's knees. The apprentice collapsed back, his head falling right onto Kagi's waiting lightsaber blade.

As another pair of Sith troopers screamed and died under the Mandalorian's fire, Kagi swept forward to the next apprentice, his violet blade striking in and severing the woman's saber arm at the elbow. His blade curved around to his right, a similar predicament befalling her left arm, and then he shoved his left hand out toward her, blasting her back into the next two apprentices with a hard shove from the Force.

The Jedi calmly strode forward, spinning his lightsaber around his hand, as the two Sith apprentices tried to get out from under their armless comrade. One of them managed to lay a hand on his lightsaber before two swift strokes from Kagi's lightsaber took them both down.

The last apprentice stared in horror at the spectre of death and annihilation marching toward him. Faced with almost certain death, he made a smart choice. He turned and ran. Kagi raised his lightsaber to go after him, then spun around quickly and slashed out with his lightsaber, taking the head off the last Sith trooper, who had been trying to sneak up on him and knife him in the back.

"How many is that?" Canderous called out as he ran to catch up with Kagi. The Mandalorian chuckled. "I've lost count."

"Me too," Kagi replied, grumbling. "They just won't stop coming."

"Almost makes you think this place is cranking out soldiers too, doesn't it?" Canderous asked as the pair entered the turbolift labeled 'Command Center.'

"You got that right," the Jedi nodded as the doors closed and the lift began rising to the upper level.

---

In the command center, Malak intently studied the holographic readout of the space battle around the Star Forge, ignoring the footsteps of Bastila approaching behind him.

"Why have you summoned me, Master?" she asked. "Without my Battle Meditation, there is a chance the Republic capital ships could break through and attack the Star Forge."

"This will not take long, Bastila," the Sith lord answered, a malicious tone in his voice that even she didn't care for. "You will be able to resume your Battle Meditation soon enough. I only wanted you to know that Revan is here on the Star Forge."

"Revan?" she asked in disbelief. "But…"

"The Force is bringing us toward a confrontation with my old master," Malak interrupted. "The Star Forge has drawn our enemies together so they may all die in a single, glorious day! You must kill Revan to prove yourself worthy of being my apprentice, Bastila. You must finish what began in the Rakatan temple."

"Y-yes, Lord Malak," Bastila replied hesitantly. _Kill Revan?_

"I sense your fear, Bastila," Malak said, waving a hand nonchalantly. "But it is unfounded. The power of the Star Forge will feed the dark side within you. It will give you the strength you need to defeat my old master. Stay here in the command center while you use your Battle Meditation against the Republic fleet. Revan will find you here in due time. It is inevitable."

"Of course, Master. I will not fail you again."

As Malak turned and walked away, Bastila seated herself, facing the holographic display. Almost immediately, she fell back into the trance of Battle Meditation. On the display, the Sith fleet once more swept out to deal crushing blow after crushing blow to the Republic forces.

At the other exit out of the command center, Malak turned to regard his apprentice. "Perhaps you will triumph, Bastila," he mused to himself. "But even if you fail, it will give me the time I need to complete my preparations of the station's defenses. And then we shall see if Revan can stand against the full fury of the Star Forge!"

Malak's evil laughter echoed around the command center.

---

Kagi's lightsaber left a violet flourish in the air as he quite literally disarmed a heavy Sith trooper, then shoved the man into the station's wall with a violent push from the Force. He turned again, his lightsaber bouncing a trio of blaster bolts back into the heavy trooper that had fired them. The soldier collapsed bloodlessly to the deck.

Behind him, Canderous had blown out a huge section of the station's wall and was using it for cover, exchanging heavy fire with a dozen Sith troopers. The Mandalorian glanced over his shoulder, saw that Kagi's path to the command center was cleared, and called it, "Go! Get to the command center! I'll handle these guys!"

Seeing that it would be pointless to argue, Kagi gave Canderous assistance in the form of another massive Force shockwave, bowling over half of the troopers that he faced. With that done, the Jedi turned and dashed toward the command center, intent on allowing nothing to stop him.

Several empty corridors later, a hole cut through a door yielded Kagi entry into a vast room, occupied by a huge holoprojector currently displaying the space battle around the Star Forge.

And seated on the floor before the holoprojector, a feminine figure that he knew all too well.

As she stood up and turned to face him, he returned his lightsaber to his belt, slowly shrugging his arms out of the cloak that she had gotten made for him. The mass of cloth pooled on the floor around his feet and he stepped forward out of it, drawing his lightsaber and igniting the amethyst blade.

With a cruel smile twisting her features, she reached behind her back, pulling out the overly-long lightsaber hilt that was an identifying feature of her and holding it horizontally in front of her. With a twitch of her right index finger, a crimson blade of red energy shot out of the right side of the hilt. As her left hand drew away from it, she discreetly pressed a second button, and a second blade of energy shot out of the other end.


	7. Interlude VII: Across the Stars

"I knew you'd come for me, Revan," Bastila said, bouncing lightly on the heels of her feet, double-bladed lightsaber balanced perfectly in front of her.

"I won't give up on you, Bastila," Kagi replied, holding his lightsaber in a traditional right-side defensive stance. "I can still save you."

She shook her head slowly. "You are wasting your time. I have seen the Jedi for what they are: weak and afraid. The Sith are the true masters of the Force. You have forgotten that lesson, Revan. Now you must pay the price."

With her left hand, she made a grand sweep of the command center. "Here on the Star Forge, the power of the dark side is at its strongest. This time you will not defeat me!"

Spinning her lightsaber in her hands, she charged at him. The Jedi steeled himself, carefully watching her legs and her arms, for they would betray the direction of her attack.

_There!_

He brought his shining blade across his body, intercepting her lower red blade. She quickly pulled it away, striking the higher blade toward his head. In an instant, his own blade came back up and parried.

Taking a step back, Bastila spun her lightsaber above her head, the red backlighting of the blades casting a demonic glow onto her face. She struck suddenly, arcing one of her blades down directly at his head. But again, her attack was foiled by his violet blade rising to meet hers in midair.

Risking a counterattack from Kagi, Bastila suddenly broke contact, taking a step back to provide her enough room to backflip away from him, increasing her distance with a push of the Force. She landed on top of the holoprojector plate, the tactical readout of the space battle superimposed over her body and features.

"I see now why Malak followed you," she said, staring through the hologram at him. "Even though you are only a shell of your former self, you are still a formidable opponent." She closed her eyes as a shiver ran through her. "I can't even _imagine_ the power you must have wielded when you were the dark lord. You were a fool to give it all up and follow the light side."

Eying her warily, Kagi moved forward, keeping his senses open for a sudden attack from the flanks or rear. His shining violent blade dispelled the darkness around him as he advanced. "The dark side has consumed you, Bastila. Slowly yet surely, it is destroying you."

She laughed, holding her lightsaber in her left hand as she swept her right arm out to encompass the hologram she was standing within. "The dark side has made me stronger than I ever was before. I have a greater command of the Force than all but the most powerful Jedi Masters. As Malak teaches me the greatest secrets of the Sith, I will unlock more of my potential. Eventually there will be no limit to what I can accomplish with the Force!"

As she spoke those words, she leapt out of the hologram, intending to deliver a surprise blow to her opponent. But he was ready for her, his lightsaber cutting viciously through the air she would have occupied had she not shoved her body out of the way with the Force. She landed on her feet a few meters away, but he was already advancing.

She brought up her lightsaber in a guard that kept the left blade high to her shoulder, right blade low to her side. Kagi's blade shoved her left blade out of line, and then swept down to strike at her unprotected left flank. She quickly intercepted it with her right blade, then took several steps back as she spun, swinging her lightsaber in a full rotation, and bringing her blade down to prevent his own weapon from cutting her feet out from under her.

Utilizing the strength the dark side gave her, she powered his blade up and over until hers was clear enough for her to pull away. She spun around, holding her lightsaber out before her, and the opposite blade came around horizontally for Kagi's head, but the Jedi's lightsaber blocked it. Not hesitating in the slightest, she brought the other end of her blade around, but he ducked under it.

She halted her momentum, brought the same blade back around, but he had already lifted his lightsaber up and over his head, coming down to cross her blade and deflect it. This act had left his front side open, an opening which she utilized by swinging her other blade around to carve open his chest.

But his lightsaber was already there, catching hers and holding it in place by force, locking their sabers together. "You will accomplish only death and destruction," he told her, steadily maintaining the positions of their blades.

"Jedi propaganda," she snapped back, pushing against his blade with all her fury. But for her efforts, she may as well have been trying to push a ship into hyperspace with the power of her breath. "The dark side is only a tool, and Malak will train me in its use. Eventually I will surpass my Master and challenge him. If I am worthy he will die by my hand. Then I will take on my own apprentice and the cycle will begin again. This is the way of the Sith, it is how we assure our leaders are always the strongest and most worthy."

Finally, Kagi grew tired of the saberlock. Dark side or not, he was still physically stronger than her. He used that strength to shove her blade down toward the ground, but she pivoted her lightsaber around its center, and sent the other blade racing up toward his face. He deftly intercepted the blow with his own glowing blade. "And so you doom yourself to continue the endless circle of death and betrayal."

"No, Revan. It is _you_ who are doomed."

She spun away from their contact, her lightsaber blades a whirling maelstrom of fire and thunder as she struck at him from the left, from the right, from high and from low. But no matter where she struck at him, how hard, or at what angle, he was always there, intercepting her blade with his own, locking their sabers together.

She swung high at his head. He ducked under.

She swung center at his gut. He batted her blade away.

Turning the movement into momentum, she spun and brought the other blade around to the same location, from the opposite side. He batted the blade away again.

She turned to strike his center again, but his blade stopped hers in midair, and before she could move it, he curved up and over to slap her blade away from his left side, shoving her out of line.

Turning it back into momentum, she spun away from him, a frustrated growl emitting from her throat as he slid back into a momentum-freezing stance, legs braced low, arms spread out to either side. The ease with which he was deflecting her attacks infuriated her.

Right, left, low, high. Block, block, jump, block.

She roared in anger, stepping back to begin her assault anew.

But this time, Kagi took the offensive, striking high at her head. She intercepted the blow with her blade, then whirled the double-bladed lightsaber in a complete circle in a frantic effort to weave a defensive web to ward off his fast, punishing strikes.

She got in a counter, aiming the blade controlled by her right hand for his head, but he got his lightsaber in the way, shoved her off, then quickly drifted to the left to intercept the return spin that she delivered. Now he was almost predicting her movements.

Then she realized that he was. Not only that, he was moving far faster than she was. There was a blinding flash of light between them, like a lightsaber energy crystal exploding, then his boot was suddenly in her midsection, the Force powering his kick and sending her flying a half dozen meters away to smash into the holoprojector's control panel. Part of the display flickered and died.

She rolled off of the control panel and into a kneel, brandishing her lightsaber behind her. But as she did so, she noticed that something felt odd about it. Bringing it around in front of her, she saw what had caused the flash of light. Kagi's last attack had split her double-bladed lightsaber in two, and shattered one of the energy crystals that had powered the blade in the useless right half of her double-saber.

Snarling, she threw the ruined half-saber down and shifted the remains of her saber to her right hand, then pushed herself to her feet and spun the weapon around her hand, identical to the way Kagi himself did it.

"You are growing weary, I can sense it," she bluffed. "Your strength falters; the light side is failing you while the power of the Star Forge reenergizes me. Soon this will all be over."

Sensing her desperation, Kagi lowered his blade to his side, and began to pace in front of her. "I do not falter, Bastila," he calmly replied, taking this opportunity to steady his breathing. "You have allowed this _dark lord_ to twist your mind until now… Now you have become the very thing you swore to destroy."

"Do not lecture me, Revan," she snapped, shooting to her feet and taking the remnants of her lightsaber, still sparking from its severed end, in both hands. "The dark side will always triumph over the light! Malak has assured me of victory. You can't defeat me here on the Star Forge. You can't!"

At her words, Kagi snapped his blade up again, tightening his hands around the metal-studded grip. Her desperation was at its peak; her only choice was to go all-out on her next attack. Deep down inside, he knew it would be their final clash.

And then she was on him, her red blade swinging angrily toward his head. He blocked it, but now that she was down to a single blade, she was able to fight as fast and furious as him. Time to take things up a notch.

He gave ground to her, still perfectly deflecting her lightsaber blows with his own. As she continued to rain blows on him, he waited for his opening. Soon, their strikes and parries began to resemble the twisting blades of a turbine engine, but he had finally spotted his opening.

He twisted to his left, spinning a full circle and bringing his lightsaber toward her midsection. But she was expecting that, and her own lightsaber twisted in to block his. She quickly pulled back and struck at his back, forcing him to bring his lightsaber down into an awkward block. To rectify that situation, he twisted completely around, his lightsaber still in contact with hers, then spun it away to strike at her left shoulder.

Stealing one of his moves, she blocked his blow, then quickly forced his blade up and over. Knowing that he would be able to block her if she disengaged her saber and struck at his exposed torso, she slid their lightsabers up, then kicked him squarely in the chest with her hard boot.

The breath flew out of his lungs in a whoosh of air, but he managed to flip in midair and land on his feet. She rushed in while he was disoriented, switching her lightsaber off as she grabbed his right wrist and pulled it out of line, her other hand snaking up and wrapping around his throat, fingers tightening like bands of durasteel.

Using her superior positioning and leverage, she leaned her own body forward, forcing him backwards and over, until it was her own hand clasped around his throat that kept him from falling to the floor. With her left hand, she began to turn his wrist, trying to bring his still-activated lightsaber down on his own head.

With the light of his own lightsaber glowing in his eyes, Kagi lifted his right leg and kneed her in the back with all his strength, breaking both her grips on him and sending her rolling past him a few meters. Kagi leapt back to his feet, struggling to catch his breath and find Bastila.

She was already on her feet, running at him. Before he could bring his lightsaber around to strike at her, she jumped up, kicking him hard in the chest with both her feet. The impact knocked the lightsaber free of his hand, and also knocked him back several feet.

He quickly rolled up to a crouch, and as she ran at him, his right leg shot up, and his bent knee slammed into her stomach, flipping her over him to land hard on her back. Turning to face her, Kagi held out his right hand and his lightsaber leapt into it. With a smooth _snap-hiss_, the violet blade ignited and began its fatal arc down toward her head.

But she had called her own lightsaber back as well, and as his was coming down, hers came over and ignited, albeit a tad slowly. She managed to spare herself from losing her head, but the last three inches of his lightsaber had burned through the floor grate, and cut a gouge into her left shoulder.

Her left hand came up, behind their sabers, and she slammed him off of her with a powerful shove from the Force. She leapt back to her feet, spinning her lightsaber around her hand before swinging hard at him. He met her blow, their blades sparking and hissing inches away from his tunic. He forced her blade over, but instead of continuing the saberlock, Bastila withdrew her blade, causing him to stumble forward.

Seeing her chance, she swung as hard as she could at his legs, hoping to take him down. But his reactions were too quick, and he leapt back out of range. Then, as he stepped back in and swung at her midsection, she brought her saber back down and blocked it.

In an unexpected move, he stepped in even closer to her, his blade pushing her arm up and away as he turned to keep proper control of his weapon. They were close enough to be physically touching now, his back pressed against her.

Before she could react to his move, he inverted his grip on his lightsaber, turned it so that the blade pointed down toward them, and thrust backward, toward both of them. The lightsaber shot past him, missing with inches to spare, but the sharp crackle of lightsaber meeting flesh, accompanied by her sudden gasp of pain, told him that he had not missed her.

A pained whimper escaped her lips as her fingers loosened on the handle of the lightsaber. It fell from her hands, the blade retreating into the hilt as it did so, and clattered noisily against the floor grate of the control room. Her arm fell limply to her side.

His heart heavy with what he had just done, Kagi pressed his thumb down onto his own lightsaber's activation plate, and the amethyst blade retreated into the handle. He turned as an unconscious sigh came from Bastila, dropping his lightsaber to the deck and going to a knee, his arms sliding underneath her as she began to fall. He caught her in midair, lowering her gently to the floor.

"No, this is not possible," she muttered, then coughed weakly. "You have rejected the dark side, you are a weak and pathetic servant of the light. How can you still stand against me? Why can't I defeat you?"

He didn't answer immediately. Propping her head up against his knee, he ripped away the burned tunic over the wound he had inflicted. It was deep, but thank the Force, it missed any vital organs, and didn't penetrate all the way through.

Slipping his left hand under her head, he held her close to him as he laid his other hand over her wound, discreetly calling upon the healing powers of the Force. "The dark side is not stronger than the light," he answered her, his voice thick with the knowledge that he may have just sealed her fate.

She took a shallow breath, and coughed again. "Yes, I see you speak the truth," she breathed. "I am no match for you." A tear broke from her right eye, running down her cheek and curving underneath her chin. "Please, for the sake of what we once shared, do not make me suffer. End my life quickly. There is no other way."

"No," he hissed, not stopping in his efforts to heal her with the Force. "I could never kill you, Bastila."

"What other choice do you have? I have fallen to the dark side; I am…" She gasped painfully. "…an apprentice of the Dark Lord himself! You cannot let me live."

"I was redeemed, Bastila. So can you be."

"You were a special case. The Council had–"

Supporting her head on his leg again, Kagi pressed his left index finger to her lips. "Shh, try not to talk. Save your strength."

She gulped painfully, closed her sickly yellow eyes, and took a deep breath. When she opened her eyes to stare up at the determined face of the former Dark Lord of the Sith, her eyes were once again their natural slate grey color. When next she spoke, her voice emerged as a haunted whisper. "I was supposed to protect you from the dark side."

"You did protect me from the dark side, Bastila. And you did far more than that."

"How? What?"

"You loved me."

She trembled slightly in his arms, and for a moment he panicked, fearing that shock had set in. Then, he realized that he could sense her emotions again through their bond, and it was the tumultuous state of her emotions that had caused the shiver, not her physical condition. "It's true I possess feelings for you," she said quietly. "But what was the cost?" She swallowed hard, and took a ragged breath. "Please, this is too painful… End it now, quickly. There is no other way."

"There is another way," Kagi persisted, reaching around to take her left hand in his own and squeeze it tightly. "I love you, Bastila. I will _not_ abandon you." Then he released her hand, and slipped his own back under her head.

She looked at him again, astonishment shining through the pain in her eyes. "You…love…me…? I… There was a time I yearned for and dreaded to hear those words. I loved you too, but I could never face who you were." She searched his face with her eyes, searched his soul with her mind, but she could find no trace of the evil that had been attributed to him. She saw only fear, but she knew the fear was for her life.

Suddenly, the sharp pain of her lightsaber wound vanished, replaced by a dull throbbing sensation. But at least she knew she wasn't dying. She knew that he had preserved her life, the same way she had preserved his so long ago. The thought brought tears to her eyes.

"Malak knew how I felt," she told him, choking past the emotion clogging her throat. "Any part of the light that was within me would be extinguished when I killed you. But what good is love? It cannot save me from the sea of blackness I am drowning in. I have betrayed everything I ever believed in. How can I atone for that?"

"Love can save you from the darkness, Bastila," Kagi said, satisfied that he had stabilized her. "It saved me. And it will save you, too. But I have to kill Malak. Will you help me?"

"How would you be able to trust me?" she asked, reaching up her right hand and softly brushing it against his cheek. "How do you know the dark side won't make me betray you again?"

His own hand came up, wrapping around hers and holding it gently. "I trust you, Bastila," he said quietly. "If you turned on me, I would willingly give you my back to strike at."

"You play a dangerous game. I could end your life with a single stroke of my lightsaber."

"I know you won't. Because I love you, Bastila, and I believe in you."

"You are brave. Many would say foolish." She sighed, and took his right hand in both of hers. "But you are also right. The dark side has lost its grip on me. I cannot raise my blade against you. You will go on to defeat Malak, of this I have no doubt. You will have gone from being the Sith Lord himself, to the savior of the galaxy."

She hesitated, and looked up into his serene face. Tears glistened in her eyes. "And… and you said you loved me. This may not be the best time to say it but…"

Freeing her hands, she reached up her left and grabbed the neck of his tunic, pulling him down toward her. Her hand then shifted to the back of his head, pulling him even further. She rose toward him as best as their positioning would allow, and suddenly, they were connected physically, with the touch of their lips. Her right hand slid up his chest and wrapped around his neck, holding her in place, at the same time that his arms slid around her waist.

After just a moment, they separated to breathe, but they did not release each other. She breathed deeply of him, her lips still barely in contact with his. "I love you, too," she whispered against his mouth. "With all of my heart."

"You are no longer afraid to love?" he asked quietly, staring deep into her eyes.

"After this? No. Nothing could make me feel safer than to be loved by you."

They parted slightly more, and he helped her to sit upright. As he smiled down at her, a glint of metal from the corner of her eye caught her attention, and she held out her hand toward it, drawing his lightsaber to her. She turned the weapon over in her hands, staring at it carefully.

"You built a new lightsaber," she said, running her fingers along its polished surface. She paused as she touched the securing collar around the activation plate, her brow furrowing. "This…metal… Is this the neural disruptor from Taris? The one I was wearing?"

"It is," he nodded, running his fingers along the rough material. "It's there so that I am forced to touch it whenever I would draw my lightsaber. And when I touch it, I remember you, and remembering you will keep me on the path of the light."

She looked up at him again, saw the love on his face, the love for her, and her vision swam once more with tears. How could she have even considered that he was still Darth Revan when she had met him again on Taris? She closed her eyes and laid her head against his strong chest. His arms encircled her in his protective warmth, and just for a moment, everything in the universe was perfect.

Then she opened her eyes, knowing what laid ahead for him. She turned her head up within his embrace, blinking away her tears. She knew that their perfect moment was coming to an end, but she also knew that they could have it again; that knowledge was the only thing that allowed her to say what she knew she must.

"You should go. Malak awaits. This isn't over yet, for any of us." She took a deep breath. No matter how much she knew she had to say it, the prospect of being away from him hurt her, deep inside. "I should stay here, though. If we face Malak I am afraid his dark presence will overwhelm me. It would not be wise to expose myself to such temptation."

He gently kissed her forehead. "I do not believe that Malak can overpower the strength of our love. But as you wish…"

Behind them, heavy bootsteps could be heard. Bastila began to push Kagi's lightsaber into his hands, but he shook his head once; he could read the aura of the interloper, and knew exactly who it was.

"Whoa," the voice of Canderous Ordo echoed around the silent room. "Guess I missed the party. Care to fill me in on the intricate details, Revan?"

Instead of answering the direct question, Kagi stood up, helping Bastila get to her feet as well. He waited until she assured him that she could stand on her own, then turned toward the Mandalorian. "Stay here and guard Bastila, Canderous. Protect her with your life."

The warrior nodded, hefting his repeating blaster rifle. "You don't have to tell me twice."

Nodding in return, Kagi turned and laid his hands on Bastila's shoulders. "While I am gone, use your Battle Meditation. Turn the tide in favor of the Republic."

She nodded. "Yes, that would be for the best. You don't need me to defeat Malak, anyway, but you have to hurry. Once I turn the battle in the Republic's favor, we won't have much time to escape the Star Forge before it is destroyed." She held his lightsaber out to him on the palms of her hands.

He took the lightsaber, smiled at her, then walked toward Canderous. He stopped a few feet from the Mandalorian, picked up his cloak from off the floor, and pulled it on again.

As he started to walk past Bastila, she held out a hand to stop him. He turned toward her and took a step forward, allowing her to touch and inspect the cloak. She reached up both hands, brushing her fingers delicately over the soft fabric that made up the cloak. Slowly, she looked into his eyes, hers questioning.

"Yes," he replied with a nod. "This is the cloak you had made for me. Mission gave it to me en route to Korriban."

Bastila smiled. Standing up on the tips of her toes, she kissed him quickly, then stepped back, and resumed the position she had used for her Battle Meditation before he had arrived. As she readied herself to slip into the trance, she looked across the distance at him. "Good luck, my love. And may the Force be with you."

"I don't need the Force," he whispered, knowing she had already gone into the meditation trance. He looked to his lightsaber as he activated the glowing amethyst blade, then glanced back toward his love.

"I have you."


	8. Interlude VIII: Duel of the Fates

Admiral Forn Dodonna and Master Vandar stared intently at the tactical readout on the bridge of the Republic flagship, the _Intervention_. Suddenly, a red triangle flashed rapidly and blinked out of existence; a Sith capital ship had been destroyed.

"There!" Dodonna called, pointing to the hole in the Sith blockade. "A break in the Sith formations. Green Squadron, move in!"

A moment later, a mechanically-filtered voice replied over the bridge speakers, _"Green Squadron moving in!"_

Beyond the viewports, a dozen fighter-bomber star craft shot into the hole left open by the sinking Sith warship, juking and jinking to avoid the turbolaser blasts from the capital ships on either side of them. Every shot that missed continued on to slam into the shields or bridge of the other ship, further damaging and harassing the Sith defenders.

Space between the warships became thick with laser fire as squadrons of Sith interceptors rose to take on the intruding Republic units. But the Republic fliers reacted before the Sith could even get onto firing angles, burning them down with a mass of green laser bolts so thick that one couldn't fit a datapad through the spaces in between the bolts. Sith fighters exploded faster than they could rise to meet the attackers, unable to hold the line against them.

"_Green Squadron's through! We've broken their lines!"_

The attacking fighters looped up and over the system's sun, riding a trail of hot flames up into space, no longer harassed by the defenders' guns. At the top of their loop, the fighters rolled in space, coming down on two of the Sith warships with a vengeance, lasers flashing and torpedoes firing as fast as fingers could pull triggers.

"_Bastila is no longer using her Battle Meditation against us!"_ Master Vandar's voice reported over the battlenet. _"The tide has turned!"_

The response was a resounding chorus of cheers from the bridge of every warship, and the cockpit of every fighter. Now with the knowledge that their enemies no longer had an unfair advantage, the brave men and women of the Republic fought even harder, burning down the Sith fighters and coring their warships with turbolaser bolts with a ferocity unmatched since the days of the Great Hyperspace War.

"_Red Squadron, into the breach!"_

Another wave of fighters roared into the fray, the T-shaped bomber craft of the Republic unloading salvo after salvo of devastatingly-powerful proton torpedoes into the shields of the Sith warships, overloading them in seconds. The smaller, hook-winged craft flashed in and out of dogfights, shredding Sith interceptors as though they were so much flimsiplast.

"_Capital ships, reinforce their positions!"_

The huge, ungainly craft that made up the muscle of the Republic's space fleet fired their engines to full acceleration, bringing them in hard and fast to trade body blows with the Sith fleet. As soon as they entered range, their massive forward mounted turbolaser cannons began pouring on the damage, smashing down weakened shields where they still existed, and burning huge holes through the armor of the ships whose shields were already down.

Inevitably, the battlefront was being pushed closer and closer to the Star Forge, as crippled Sith ships began spiraling down into the gravity well of the system's sun, the Republic ships that had been slaughtering them pushing forward, turning their guns on the next set of targets.

"_The Sith fleet is in disarray. Now's our chance. Hit that Star Forge with everything we've got!"_

---

The sound of half a ton of metal shrapnel slamming into the floor of the observation room did not surprise or draw the attention of Malak, who was busy studying the battle unfold around the station.

"Really, Malak," Kagi's voice called out, echoing across the empty room. "Droids? You send _droids_ to do your dirty work for you?"

"As I recall, Revan, you also used a droid to do your dirty work as well," the Sith lord snapped back.

"Ah, you mean HK-47? Well you know, the thing about HK? He could wipe out your droid army, all by himself. All the while expressing his disgust at the _meatbag's_ pathetic army of droids."

Malak stiffened at the use of that term, but did not reply.

"I'm so glad that HK refreshed me of that little incident," Kagi said, his voice taunting. "It's truly the only memory that I cherish from my little stint as Dark Lord of the Sith. Quite frankly, the rest of that time period can go to hell."

Finally, Malak turned his back on the observation windows, content that he had seen all he cared to see of the Republic crushing his fleet, the snubfighters systemically stripping his own ships of their interceptor defenses and shields, and the capital ships targeting their fire on the launch bays that were releasing the mass-produced Sith armada. For the Sith personnel, it was a grim sight.

The Sith lord gestured to the ruined Forge droid that Kagi had deposited on the deck between them. "Well done, Revan," he said, putting the barbs out of his mind. I was certain the defenses of the Star Forge would destroy you, but I see there is more of your old self in you than I expected."

Kagi gave his old apprentice a look that was a cross between smug and astonished as he pointed to the ruined droid. "Droid." He then pointed to himself. "Living, thinking human." He then swept both his arms out to the side, palms pointed toward the floor. "No contest."

"Yes, well, it is obvious that I underestimated you," Malak replied. "You are stronger than I thought; stronger than you ever were during your reign as Dark Lord. I did not think that was possible." The fallen Jedi stroked his metal chin with his right hand, musing. "Perhaps you sucked the power from Bastila at the same time you sapped her life force. Or perhaps, something far more sinister…"

Kagi's eyes narrowed as he pointed at his former friend. "Okay, Malak? You've always had one skill. It was the only thing you were ever good at."

"Oh?" The jawless man chuckled. "Do enlighten me."

"Pissing off the wrong people."

The Jedi's lightsaber literally leapt off of his belt into his outstretched right hand. With a brush of his thumb against the metal plate that had failed to contain Bastila, the amethyst blade ignited, beginning its downward swing toward Malak's head.

With a _snap-hiss_ that echoed around the area, Malak's own crimson lightsaber ignited, smoothly intercepting Kagi's blow. As their sabers locked together, the Sith lord narrowed his eyes as he saw the way which the former Sith lord held his lightsaber, held his other arm, held his body.

"Juyo form, Revan?" he asked. "Quite daring, using such a form against the Dark Lord of the Sith."

Smiling menacingly, Kagi pushed to the left with all his strength, rolling their sabers over until they were both pointed toward the ground. Then, his empty left hand balled into a fist, which he sent rocketing into the side of Malak's head. The Sith lord stumbled backwards, releasing his lightsaber with his right hand to press against the pain in his temple.

"Actually, it's not Juyo," Kai replied. "It's something new I put together, just for you. It's called the _Ka'rta_ form."

"A Mandalorian-based form?" Malak blurted. "Have you sunk so low as to use _their_ training against me?"

The Jedi smiled, spinning his lightsaber around his hand, before sweeping both arms out wide, leaving his torso completely exposed. Daring Malak to strike. "It's working, isn't it?"

Letting out an inarticulate sound of rage, the dark lord rushed in, his glowing crimson lightsaber cutting fiery swathes through the dimly-lit air. But the patterns that Kagi's amethyst blade traced in defense against Malak's strikes were more intricate than the weave of many fine artist tapestries.

_The clarity of a droid assassin,_ Bastila's voice whispered through the Force.

Irritated, the Sith lord leapt backwards, opening the distance between them. Lifting his left hand, Malak aimed his fingers toward Kagi like blasters, and unleashed a devastating blast of Force lightning. Much to the dark Jedi's surprise, Kagi merely lifted his lightsaber in his hand, which drew the energy bolts to its blade and negated them. The Jedi didn't even seem phased.

_The Force mastery of a Jedi consular._

Genuinely surprised by Kagi's ability to block his Force lightning with so little effort, Malak charged in angrily, his blade harshly swinging for his former master's head. But to his surprise, instead of blocking the blow with his own saber, Kagi ducked under it, bending his body almost completely backwards to ensure that the blade passed well over him.

Malak struck again and again, from varying angles, but not once did the former dark lord stop the blows with his lightsaber. The Jedi twisted and contorted his body, seemingly dancing in and out between the paths of Malak's fiery blade, moving so fast that his body appeared to be blurring around the motions.

_The mastery of self of a scoundrel._

Finally, Kagi struck. He leapt up into the air, spinning over a low horizontal slash from Malak, and drove both boots hard into the Sith's chest, driving the man back. The Jedi Knight flowed gracefully through the maneuver, twisting in midair to land hard on the deck, his booted feet slamming against the metal. His body was tucked low to the ground, his chest and chin nearly touching it, center of gravity perfectly balanced. He held his lightsaber in an inverted grip behind his back, the glowing blade of the weapon aimed unerringly for Malak's head.

Realizing just how potentially-lethal Kagi's new lightsaber form was, Malak turned and ran toward the nearest kolto tank, within which, a male human was suspended in the life-restoring fluid. The difference between this and the normal kolto tanks that Kagi had seen across the galaxy, was that this human was impaled by numerous wires and tubes that fed out of the rear of the machine.

"You continue to amaze me, Revan," Malak said as he reached the tank, turning to face his old master once more. "If only you had been the one to uncover the true power of the Star Forge, you might have become truly invincible."

Kagi did not reply, nor did he move from his low position. Like a serpent, the Jedi was coiled, muscles tensed, prepared to strike a fatal blow. Malak recognized this as well.

"But you were a fool," the Sith lord continued. "All you saw was an enormous factory. All you ever imagined was an infinite fleet rolling forth to crush the Republic. You were blind, Revan. Blind and stupid."

The only response from the coiled Jedi was the slow spinning of his amethyst blade in a circular pattern above him, the energy trail creating a halo form over his body. The dark lord was stalling for time; both of them knew who would be the victor this day.

"The Star Forge is more than just a space station. In some ways, it is like a living creature. It hungers. And it can feed on the dark side that is within all of us. Look around you, Revan," Malak said, gesturing to the other kolto tanks scattered about the room, nearly a dozen in all. "See the bodies? These are Jedi who fell when I attacked Dantooine. For all intents and purposes, dead, except for one difference."

Pausing for unnecessary dramatic effect, Malak waited for Kagi to venture a guess. When it became obvious that he wouldn't, the dark lord narrowed his eyes. "I have not let them become one with the Force. Instead, I have brought them here. The Star Forge corrupts what remains of their power and transfers the dark taint to me!"

To demonstrate his meaning, Malak lifted his left hand toward the kolto tank near him, drawing the life force out of the dead Jedi imprisoned within. As this happened, Kagi felt a tremendous surge in the Sith's dark side energies.

The Jedi swore. If Malak could do that a few more times, Kagi's momentum could slow to a halt, overpowered by the strength of Malak's dark side. He could not allow this to happen.

Rising up from his low stance, Kagi began to spin his lightsaber around his right hand, his left going behind his back. Malak fell for the ploy, and laughed aloud. "So, Revan, are you finally prepared to fight me man to man? Finished with your little games?"

Still spinning his blade, Kagi seemed to ponder that idea for a moment, then shook his head. "No, I still have five more tenants of the _Ka'rta_ form to show you."

The last revolution of Kagi's lightsaber came snapping to a halt as he finished speaking, before he tensed and hurled his lightsaber skyward. From behind his back, he drew Carth's personalized blaster pistol in his left hand. Malak, stunned by this unheard of maneuver, could only stare in confusion as Kagi fired, again and again, emptying the pistol's power pack at his gyrating lightsaber.

Each bolt that he fired struck the blade of the lightsaber, refracting off it and angling back down toward the ground. Several shot toward Malak, forcing the dark lord to step back and parry the bolts with his own blade, further removing his attention from Kagi.

The rest of the bolts all homed directly on the power cables connected to the seven remaining kolto tanks that contained fallen Jedi. Malak could only watch in stunned horror as the energy bolts sheared through the cables, instantly destroying the tanks' connection to the Star Forge, their connection to him. That was his only trump card, annihilated in one fell swoop by his former master.

_The precision of a soldier._

A clattering of metal against metal drew Malak's attention back to Kagi as the lightsaber fell perfectly into his former master's hand, before being twisted once and gripped in Kagi's daring, over-the-head defense stance.

"Now I'm ready to get serious, Malak," he taunted, "if you are."

And then the Jedi was on him in full, violet blade flashing in the darkness, his powerful and punishing strikes coming almost too fast for the Sith lord to defend himself against.

Malak lunged, his blade stabbing straight out, but Kagi stepped past the strike, his own lightsaber coming around to hold the jawless man's blade down. Pushing himself with the Force, Kagi leapt up, rolling over Malak's head and landing behind him.

Before the Sith Lord could turn to defend himself, Kagi had entwined his right arm around Malak's own and slammed his violet blade against Malak's angry red one, trapping their sabers together in the most literal definition of a saberlock.

The Jedi's left hand gripped Malak at the left wrist, then ripped backwards with the strength of the _Ka'rta_ lightsaber form, slamming Malak's elbow into Kagi's own left shoulder. The joint snapped in two, accompanied by the electronic shriek of the Sith as Kagi freed his right arm, planting his boot in his former apprentice's back and shoving him away, hard.

_The strength of a Wookie._

Malak spun to face the Jedi, fear showing on his face for the first time. He knew then, without a doubt, that he would not survive this encounter. But he was a Sith, and the best thing a beaten Sith could do was take their enemy down with them. Letting his broken arm hang limply at his side, Malak rushed forward, swinging his lightsaber from the right at his enemy's side.

Kagi's entire form flowed into the counter, his body twisting along with his blade as he roughly batted the crimson blade away. He pivoted on his left foot, his right leg shooting up, sheathed in the energy of the Force. Malak saw what was happening, and tried to move, but it was far too late. The Jedi's boot impacted against the Sith lord's jaw, the observation deck ringing with the impact between hardened leather and durasteel.

Then something gave.

There was the sound of metal joints tearing, flesh ripping, all drowned out by Malak's electronic scream, louder and less muffled than the previous one.

Kagi flowed the spin-kick into an entire rotation, planting his boot firmly on the deck before turning to see Malak once more. In the distance, the deck plates rang loudly as Malak's metal jaw impacted off them and rolled into a dark corner.

The Dark Lord stared in absolute horror at his former master, his right arm pressed against his lack of a jaw in a futile attempt to stop the blood flowing from the two locations where the ripping away of the metal replacement had also shredded his skin.

_The power of a warrior._

Before Malak could do anything, Kagi brought up his left hand. The Dark Jedi felt a powerful, invisible hand seizing his body, lifting him up into the air and hammering him back into one of the ruined kolto tanks.

Stars exploded before the Sith lord's vision as his head shattered the glass casing of the tank. Even so, he could not break the confusion that wracked him at the knowledge that Kagi had been the first one in decades to successfully manipulate his body with the Force. He had trained for years to prevent just such a thing from occurring.

_The wisdom of a Jedi sentinel,_ Bastila's voice whispered into his mind, answering his doubts.

Before him, Kagi paused, temporarily lowering his lightsaber to his side. "We're not done yet, Malak."

"What?" the dark lord questioned, his electronic voice filled with pain.

"The _Ka'rta_ form," Kagi answered, holding up his left index finger. "One more tenant."

Before the Jedi could say anything else, Malak flung himself at his former master, hoping to strike a critical blow with the element of surprise. His body sailed across the intervening distance, lightsaber aimed unerringly for Kagi's heart.

The blow never landed.

Kagi's lightsaber danced out, neatly parrying the blow past his left side. That hand reached out, seizing Malak's lightsaber hand, and allowing the Jedi to flourish his lightsaber once, severing Malak's right hand. The dark lord tried to bring his left arm up to summon the lightsaber, but a quick swing sliced that one off as well.

As Malak stared in disbelief at the stumps of his wrists, Kagi's lightsaber flashed twice more, removing both of the Sith's arms above the elbows. Then the Jedi stepped back, staring deep into his former apprentice's yellow, hate-filled eyes, and drove his lightsaber into Malak's gut, all the way up to the hilt.

_The Heart of a savior,_ the voices of Bastila and Kagi echoed together.

"My _Ka'rta_ lightsaber form," Kagi said quietly, withdrawing his lightsaber and allowing the dark lord to fall to his knees. "The Form of the Heart."

"Im…possible…" Malak coughed, his arm stumps turning as though he were trying to clutch at the ruined hole in his stomach. "I…cannot be beaten… I am the Dark Lord of the…Sith…"

"This is the way of the dark side, Malak," Kagi answered. "All things end in death."

"Still…" He coughed again, pain creasing his face. "…spouting the code of the Jedi, I see… Perhaps there is…more wisdom in their code than I…ever believed…"

The dying Sith turned his face up toward his old friend, yellow eyes beginning to glaze over. "I cannot help but…wonder what would have happened…were our positions reversed… What if… Fate had decreed that I be captured… by the Jedi? Could I have returned to the light, as you did?"

Malak coughed, and blood squirted from the ripped flesh at the sides of his face. "Could it have been I that…" The dark lord paused, and once again looked up at Kagi. "Oh, Bastila. Did you kill her, Revan?"

"No," Kagi answered, deactivating the blade of his lightsaber. "She returned to the light, and to me."

"Good," Malak wheezed, fighting for every breath. "You deserve…a woman like her. I am sorry. I should not… have led her down the dark path, the way you once did for me…"

"Nor should _I_ have led you down that path," Kagi whispered, closing his eyes as a vision of the old days, before the Mandalorian Wars, flashed through his mind. "I am sorry for all that I have caused you to suffer."

"You…you speak the truth. But I cannot blame you…for my fate. I chose to continue down the darkness. I wanted to be master of the Sith and…" He coughed. "…ruler of the galaxy. But that destiny was not mine. And now, I see… neither was it yours."

Again, Malak turned his eyes up at his old master. "Your destiny…is with Bastila, Revan. That is where you belong. As for me? I am nothing as the darkness claims me. I feel it now, creeping slowly toward me." The Sith Master turned his eyes on his fallen lightsaber, and it slowly began to roll across the floor toward Kagi. "Please, Revan… Do not make me suffer the wait of the darkness…"

Silently, Kagi opened his left hand, and Malak's lightsaber leapt up into it. He closed his hand around the worn metal, then activated the two lightsabers simultaneously. Striding forward slowly, Kagi crossed the weapons over Malak, the junction of crimson and violet centimeters from his throat.

"I thank you, my old friend…" Malak said, then closed his eyes.

There were two thuds; one light, the other heavy. Afterwards, silence save for the gentle hum of the lightsabers Kagi held in either hand. One lightsaber, that which he held in his right hand, had returned to him all he cared for in the galaxy with its gentle amethyst glow. The other, in his left hand, the burning crimson blade that had almost destroyed everything he held dear.

He deactivated both lightsabers without a word, plunging the room into silence marred only by the sound of blasterfire beyond the viewports, and the occasional rumblings of an energy salvo impacting upon the Forge. He returned his own lightsaber to its place on his belt, dangling over his left hip, easily accessed by his right hand. The other lightsaber went into his robes; it was not his to place in the mirroring position over his right hip.

"It is finished," he said, and turned away from the headless corpse of Darth Malak, the former Dark Lord of the Sith.

* * *

**A/N:** Now, I'm sure you guys were smart enough to figure it out for yourselves, but _Ka'rta_ is a completely fictional lightsaber form. The word _ka'rta_ is the actual Mando'a word for heart; I looked it up on Wookiepedia. _Ka'rta_ is a form that Revan created that drew on the skills of his comrades that he watched them use in battle. For those of you who either didn't bother to or couldn't figure it out, the _Ka'rta_ form actually has its own code, as follows: 

The clarity of an assassin droid. - The _Ka'rta_ lightsaber form grants the wielder near-perfect defense, and the ability to weave a defensive web that no lightsaber can penetrate. (Basis: HK-47)

The Force mastery of a Jedi consular. - Only the most powerful Jedi of the Order can even begin to learn the tenants of the _Ka'rta_ form, and as such, this form greatly augments their own natural defense against Force powers. (Basis: Jolee Bindo)

The mastery of self of a scoundrel. - The Force is not all there is to lightsaber combat. One cannot adequately fight if one cannot avoid blows. _Ka'rta_ imbues the wielder with the Force, granting them a combat agility greater than ever before seen. (Basis: Mission Vao)

The precision of a soldier. - Combat relies on the ability to quickly and accurately strike your opponent's weak points when they appear. The _Ka'rta_ lightsaber form allows a focus of the reflexive abilities of the body to be attuned through the Force, no matter the weapon wielded. (Basis: Carth Onasi)

The strength of a Wookie. - Power is another key factor in victory. A user of _Ka'rta_ can summon from within a strength that would make the furry natives of Kashyyyk proud. (Basis: Zaalbar. Duh.)

The power of a warrior. - Strength, speed, and precision mean nothing without the technique to back them up. Through learning the technique of war, even the most novice user of _Ka'rta_ can match a master of any other form. (Basis: Canderous Ordo)

The wisdom of a Jedi sentinel. - In combat, the Force can be a devastating weapon. A user of the _Ka'rta_ lightsaber form can easily overpower the Force based defenses of many opponents, rendering them helpless to their will. (Basis: Bastila Shan)

The Heart of a savior. - Without the pure heart to use these skills properly, Force offense/defense, strength, speed, technique, precision, and defense are worthless. Only pure Jedi who serve the light can learn the _Ka'rta_ lightsaber form, the Form of the Heart. (Basis: Revan)


	9. Interlude IX: The Falling Star

Another massive tremor shook the landing bay of the Star Forge. Sheltering beneath the nose of the tramp freighter _Ebon Hawk_, Carth shifted his stance again to balance himself against the jolt, barely managing to maintain his footing.

A few meters away, clutching to a support strut of the boarding ramp as though she didn't have the physical strength to stand on her own, Bastila seemed to pay no mind to the immediate jeopardy she and the ship were in. Instead, her eyes were focused solely on the door out of the bay, waiting with stilled breath.

"What's taking him so long?" Carth muttered to himself, then glanced toward Bastila. He recognized that look in her eyes; he'd seen it many times before, and even had worn it once himself, long ago. It was longing. The absence, and unknown situation of the former dark Jedi Revan was like a gaping wound in her soul, a wound far more life-threatening than the lightsaber burn she had endured in their duel.

"He's been gone too long!" Carth called out to her. "We can't stay here much longer!"

"He's not dead," Bastila breathed, her muted words barely carrying to the Republic pilot on a space-bound breeze. "I know he's not…"

Almost as if in response to her words, the door of the landing bay slid open, admitting a battle-hardened figure to stride into the sight of his comrades. As soon as they saw him, both Carth and Bastila were in motion, moving toward the returning Jedi. Carth moved more slowly, wary of another sudden tremor that may knock him off his feet, but Bastila was running toward the Jedi as fast as her legs could carry her.

"What happened?" Carth asked as he approached.

Kagi continued to stride forward, his motion becoming more certain and sure now that he was back in the presence of his friends. He started to reply to Carth, but was interrupted by Bastila literally throwing herself into his arms. Only a quick movement of his right leg directly behind him to support the weight shift kept them relatively upright.

As his arms closed around her waist to hold her to him, Kagi's expression turned smug. "I take it you missed me, then?"

For just a moment, she narrowed her eyes at him in the most spiteful glare she had ever mustered and hissed, "Shut up." Then she leaned forward and pressed her lips to his, closing her eyes and locking her arms around his neck.

Kagi had known she was going to do that. Even without the benefit of their Force bond. He returned her kiss with passion fueled by the weeks he had spent without her, by the fear that he had forever lost her to the dark side and his cursed former apprentice.

After a moment, the pair withdrew from each other. Bastila's mouth hung slightly agape for an instant before she recovered herself and grinned at the Jedi. "So who missed who?"

"I think it was a mutual longing," he replied.

"I think so, too."

"Uhh, guys?" Carth interjected, maintaining a respectable distance from the pair. "As touching as this is, this station _is_ coming down on our ears. I don't think anybody would mind if you continued, so long as we're all on the _Ebon Hawk_ and getting well away from here."

Reluctantly, the two Jedi released one another and turned to Carth. Kagi nodded. "Malak is dead. I have his lightsaber, to return to the Jedi Council, and he will no longer be a problem."

Carth nodded as well. "I'll transmit the good news to the fleet. You two hurry up and get on board." With that, the pilot disappeared up the boarding ramp.

Without a word, Bastila reached into Kagi's tunic and withdrew Malak's lightsaber, turning it over in the palm of her hand. Her expression grew troubled. "Even though we do not kill our enemies," she said quietly, "I am pleased that you killed him. Not because of the threat that he posed to the galaxy, but because he turned me against you. Because he almost destroyed _us_."

Kagi reached out his right hand and laid it over the lightsaber, covering hers in the process. "He _almost_ destroyed us, Bastila. But we are stronger than him. Our love could not be destroyed by a servant of darkness."

Bastila smiled up at Kagi and released the lightsaber, allowing him to return it to his tunic. "Come. We need to get off this station."

Dropping her Sith lightsaber to the deck, Bastila took his left hand in her right, and started toward the ship. Kagi paused only long enough to give the severed lightsaber a nudge with the Force, off the side of the landing platform, before he followed.

---

"Admiral Dodonna," called the naval officer on sensors. "We've hit the Forge's orbital stabilizer."

Forn Dodonna was a woman who had served the Republic through many battlefronts. In her years, she had seen and done much. But as that one single report came to her, a smile appeared on her weathered visage. "Pull back the fleet; I don't want to lose any ships when that thing goes down."

She turned her attention to the small, green Jedi Master standing beside her, intently studying the battle before him. "We've done it, Master Vandar. The Sith have been routed, and the back of their fleet production has been broken."

"But at what cost, Admiral?" the little alien replied, his green eyes flashing over the docking bays of the Star Forge. "Where is the _Ebon Hawk_ and her crew?"

---

The capital ships of the Republic fleet led the retreat from the doomed Star Forge, gunnery mounts falling silent as the last of the Sith ships still operating under their own power fled into hyperspace.

As the snubfighters twisted and spiraled around their mother ships, the Forge's orbital position rapidly destabilized, the gravity well of the sun it had been stationed over reaching up and drawing the orbital factory down into its crushing depths.

A capital ship-sized explosion blossomed up from one of the lower spires of the Forge as a fuel container succumbed to the crushing pressure of the system's star. Higher up, one of the upper spires shattered as an explosion in the manufacturing lines blew out entire sectors of the factory to the void of space.

Finally, the chain reaction of explosions reached the core of the Forge itself. A massive explosion blinded the rear scopes of the fleeing Republic ships as the Star Forge destroyed itself, hurling asteroid-sized chunks of itself in all directions.

Aboard the bridge of the Republic's flagship, the crew waited breathlessly, all eyes on their rear scopes, waiting for a single blip to return to their sensors.

---

Like a bar of soap squirting out from under a foot, the _Ebon Hawk_ shot out of the gravity well of the star, riding an azure trail of fire. As soon as it was free of the gravitational field, the little freighter executed a barrel roll in open space, orienting on the Republic fleet and putting all discretional speed to catch up to their ships.

"_Carth, you made it!"_ Admiral Dodonna's voice called over the ship's speakers.

The entire crew of the _Hawk_ had been crammed into the small cockpit of the freighter, watching the ships of the Republic fleet grow in their forward viewport. In the pilot's seat, Carth reached forward to tap the communications panel.

"We couldn't let you start the victory party without us, Admiral," he said, grinning from ear to ear.

Ahead of them, an entire squadron of the Republic's hook-winged fighters broke from the main fleet, roaring past the stock freighter before reversing course and coming up alongside the ship, acting almost as a set of mobile shields.

"_I've sent an honor guard to escort you in,"_ Dodonna said, pleasure evident in her voice despite the static from the nearby star. _"You'll be getting a hero's welcome when we get home."_

---

They didn't wait to return to Coruscant.

The crews of the victorious Republic fleet gathered on the grounds of the ancient Rakatan temple on the nearby planet, cheering as the crew of the _Ebon Hawk_ emerged from the temple gates, having landed the small freighter on the landing pad above.

All ten of them stood there, arrayed on the ramp up to the temple: the assassin droid HK-47; the astromech T3-M4; the Cathar Jedi Knight Juhani, fully recovered from the wound Bastila had dealt her; the retired Jedi Jolee Bindo; the Twi'lek code-slicer Mission Vao; the Wookie warrior Zaalbar; the proud Mandalorian warrior Canderous Ordo; the Republic soldier and war hero Carth Onasi; the Jedi Knight and instrumental figure Bastila Shan. And standing in between Carth and Bastila, with Bastila on his right, the former Dark Lord of the Sith, redeemed Jedi warrior, and savior of the galaxy, Kagi Vayun.

In unison, all ten of them turned away from the crowd to face Admiral Dodonna, who stood before Kagi. "You have defeated Malak," she said, her voice artificially amplified for the entire gathering, which included several of the Elder Rakata tribe near the back, to hear. "You have destroyed the Star Forge, and broken the spirit of the Sith. For this, I am proud to present each of you with the Cross of Glory, the highest honor the Republic can bestow."

As she spoke, nine other commanders of the Republic fleet stepped up in line with her, each standing before one of the heroic crew of the _Ebon Hawk_. Each of them held one of the medal, which consisted of a sword crossed over a shield, upon which the insignia of the Republic was emblazoned.

As befit tradition, Admiral Dodonna stepped forward first, pinning the first of the medals to Kagi's tunic as the Sith Lord-turned soldier-turned Jedi stood at perfect military attention. At a nod from the admiral, the other officers also stepped forward, pinning or magnetically-attaching the honors to their recipients, as befit the case.

Once all the officers had stepped back, the medals firmly fastened to their recipients, Admiral Dodonna raised her voice again, looking out over the gathered crowd. "From Coruscant to the farthest reaches of the Outer Rim, you will _all_ be known as the saviors of the Republic!"

As the crowd cheered their heroes, Admiral Dodonna stepped back, allowing Vandar to step forward out of the gathered quartet of Jedi Masters, the other three having accompanied the Republic battle fleet all the way from Coruscant.

"On behalf of the Jedi Council," Vandar said, using the Force to project his voice as he swept his arm toward the three other Masters, "defenders of the galaxy and sworn protectors of the Republic, I, too, would like to honor you for your actions."

As the diminutive Jedi Master paused, Kagi spared a glance to Bastila, now standing on his left. She caught his look, gave him a smile, then turned her attention back to Master Vandar. Kagi followed suit.

"We Jedi now have another tale to weave into the grand history of our eternal Order."

Kagi could feel the eyes of all his comrades, as well as that of the crowd, on him.

"The Redemption," Vandar continued, staring proudly at him, "of Revan, the Prodigal Knight."

On some unspoken cue, the ten heroes turned once again to face the crowd, with Vandar's voice rising from behind them. "Wherever you go, you will be recognized as saviors of the galaxy. The heroes of our age. But you must remain ever vigilant, for one day, you may be called upon again, to defend the glory of the Republic against the tyranny of the dark side."

The roar of the crowd rose again as the heroes looked out over the gathered assembly, proudly displaying the accolades of the Republic they had earned. In the skies above, ten Republic starfighters roared over the assembly. As they passed over, the starfighters broke and roared in different directions, except for the last two, which shot directly through the middle of the breaking formation.

The smoke trails left in their wake were like the beams of a rising sun, each trail symbolic of one of the ten new heroes, of a bright new hope for the Republic. And of the two that shot straight through the middle…

Kagi smiled and looked over to Bastila. She was also looking at him, also smiling. She had thought of the same thing. Those last two fighters were meant to symbolize them.

"For this," Vandar concluded, "is the destiny of the Jedi."


End file.
